11
votes
How did three characters for _de_ emerge?
The premise of the question is a bit backwards. It's not that de evolved into three different characters, it's that three different words evolved to have the same pronunciation in modern Mandarin ...
6
votes
Accepted
⿺走巳 or ⿺走己: Can 起 be written in two different ways?
These two are completely the same, they are just two different writing systems. 起 without a stroke is the simplified Chinese which is used in mainland China and Singapore while the character with a ...
6
votes
Accepted
What is the glyph origin of 槑?
時期字體
字形
參考資料
西周金
禽簋集成4041
戰國・楚簡
13包山楚簡
篆
木部・古文說文解字
隸定
「槑」 is a graphical corruption, then reduplication, of 「某」.
「某」 is comprised of semantic 「木」 (picture of a tree) and semantic 「甘」 (picture ...
6
votes
Accepted
Is there a variant of 溏 without the 口 component that's used in Taiwan?
焿 is a character on its own.
ZDic:http://www.zdic.net/z/1d/js/713F.htm
gēng
〔~子寮湾〕地名。在中国台湾省东北海岸。
Wiktionary: https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh-hans/%E7%84%BF
“焿”是“羹”的异体字,为台湾本地自创的形声俗字。
羹 means '(...
3
votes
Where to find all/most variants of a glyth?
i would use 教育部異體字字典:
http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/rbt/home.do
it's authoritative, and most comprehensive.
eg 御 (u+5fa1), it listed 37 variants :)
http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/...
3
votes
Accepted
Is ䷊ a chinese character?
Those are 六十四卦 symbols, which is extension of 八卦
They are not characters but symbols.
Each symbol has a corresponding Chinese character and representative meaning as the figures indicated
For ...
2
votes
Is there a variant of 溏 without the 口 component that's used in Taiwan?
I couldn't find [it] in Pleco.
Here's a simple way to find it in Pleco. You need to have the:
Fullscreen Handwriting Recognizer ($9.99)
add-on activated in Pleco.
Then all you have to do is ...

Mou某♦
- 34.3k
2
votes
Is there a variant of 溏 without the 口 component that's used in Taiwan?
A few notes:
The left hand side of that character is「火」, not「氵」(unlike in「溏」)
「庚」is not a variant component of「唐」.「唐」(boastful, exaggerative; Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[N-]rˁaŋ/) is constructed from ...
2
votes
Accepted
How did 閒 end up becoming 閑 and 間?
Outlier
PY xián (or jiān, jiàn)
FORM
閒 originally depicted a door (門), such that the moon (月) could be seen through a crack in the door, indicating the original meaning “crack, split.”
COMPONENTS
門
...

Mou某♦
- 34.3k
1
vote
Why are some characters more preferred in some areas?
This is called 异体字 and I don't know this concept in English. In the old days, there are often multiple characters for a single 字, if you know some japanese kanji, you would even find more 异体字, some ...
1
vote
Accepted
Are (报道, 报导), (成份, 成分), (定单, 订单), (定婚, 订婚), (浑浊, 混浊), (摩擦, 磨擦), (启程, 起程), (人才, 人材) all pairs of alternative ways of writing words?
From your question, I have to say your Chinses study is already at a very advanced level. These pairs have only nuanced differences, even for Chinese tongue speakers (which I am). Well, depending on ...
1
vote
Are (报道, 报导), (成份, 成分), (定单, 订单), (定婚, 订婚), (浑浊, 混浊), (摩擦, 磨擦), (启程, 起程), (人才, 人材) all pairs of alternative ways of writing words?
報導 is more common. 報道 is rare to use.
成分 is correct, 成份 is also very widely used. 份 is a measure word, e.g. 一份報紙 兩份午餐 三份麥當勞.
3.訂單 定單, usually you can use both to express ORDER. e.g. 下訂單 means place ...
1
vote
Is there any specifically masculine character for 他
Short answer: no.
There are occasional suggestions for a male tā character (for example, ⿰男也, in this online discussion), but none have caught on.
In fact, the desire for an unambiguously gender-...
1
vote
Is there any specifically masculine character for 他
I would suggest that there is no sense of gender in the Chinese languages since the very beginning; nor even today. We all know that the Chinese languages are very isolated and very analytic. The idea ...
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