shìzhī

clan

Original meaning unclear. Possibly a picture of a hammer or a spoon.

Evolution

氏 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
氏 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
氏 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
氏 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
氏 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

shì

clan, family; mister; clan name; maiden name

 

zhī

see 月氏[Yuè​zhī] and 閼氏|阏氏[yān​zhī]

Most common words with 氏
Freq.
Word
Meaning

clan name

摄氏度

°C (degrees Celsius)

姓氏

family name

华氏

Fahrenheit

无名氏

anonymous (e.g. author, donor etc)

Component uses

Sound component in 8 characters (4 verified)

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*k.deʔ

dzyeX

shì

clan


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 7.7687% of movies

2005th most common character in movies

1500th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+6C0F

Shuowen

“氏,巴蜀山名岸脅之旁箸欲落者曰氏。氏崩聲聞數百里。象形,乀聲。”


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