chī

leave

Original meaning: 

catch a bird

Simplified form of . Depicts a bird () being caught in a bird trap (). Based on the original meaning "catch a bird". The meaning later shifted to "reject", "separate", and "leave". The (bird) component was removed for simplification.

Components
離 remnant component

  Remnant component

  

leave

Evolution

离 Bronze script Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Bronze script

Late Warring States (~250 BC)
离 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
离 Clerical script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
离 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

chī

mythical beast (archaic)

() 

leave, depart; go away; separate; to leave; to part from; to be away from; (in giving distances) from; without (sth); independent of; one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦[bā​guà], symbolizing fire; ☲

() 

surname Li

Most common words with 离
Freq.
Word
Meaning

离开

to depart

to leave

距离

distance

离婚

to divorce

分离

to separate

Component uses

Sound component in 10 characters (0 verified)