歌
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Originally depicted a man carrying an axe while singing. Now a phonosemantic compound. 欠 (pictograph of a person opening their mouth) represents the meaning and 哥 represents the sound.
Components
哥 Phonetic component
gē older brother
elder brother
Originally depicted an axe being carried. Later reanalyzed into phonetic component 哥.
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Historical Evolution
歌
Bronze
Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)
歌
Bronze
Early Warring States (~400 BC)
歌
Seal
Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)
歌
Seal
Shuowen (~100 AD)
歌
Seal
Shuowen (~100 AD)
歌
Clerical
Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
歌
Clerical
Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
歌
Clerical
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
歌
Clerical
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
歌
Regular
Modern
Chinese
歌 [gē]
song; CL:支[zhī],首[shǒu]; to sing
Japanese
noun
- song; singing (esp. 唄 for folk songs and shamisen songs)
- classical Japanese poem (esp. tanka)
- modern poetry
Example Sentences
Japanese Names
歌 うた
Uta female given namesurname
歌 かすみ
Kasumi unclassified name
CHINESE WORDS (181)
歌曲 [gēqǔ] #1,849
song
唱歌 [chànggē] #1,687
to sing a song
歌手 [gēshǒu] #1,870
singer
歌词 [gēcí] #4,113
song lyric
歌词 [gēcí] #4,113
song lyric
歌迷 [gēmí] #7,802
fan of a singer
歌声 [gēshēng] #5,006
singing voice
歌声 [gēshēng] #5,006
singing voice
歌唱 [gēchàng] #4,761
to sing
诗歌 [shīgē] #8,148
poem
171 more
items