leliǎoliào

finish

Original meaning: 

armless child

Pictograph of a young child, similar to , but without arms. Compare to (child only with right arm) and (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components
子 iconic,remnant component

  Iconic Remnant component

zi

  

child

A child () without arms.

Evolution

了 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
了 Seal script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Seal script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
了 Clerical script Jin dynasty (266-420 AD)

Clerical script

Jin dynasty (266-420 AD)
了 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

le

to finish; particle of completed action; (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)

 

liǎo

to achieve; variant of |[liǎo]; to understand clearly

() 

liǎo

(of eyes) bright; clear-sighted

() 

liào

unofficial variant of [liào]

Most common words with 了
Freq.
Word
Meaning

(completed action marker)

为了

in order to

了解

to understand

到了

at last

除了

besides

Component uses

Sound component in 3 characters (1 verified)

Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 100.0000% of movies

5th most common character in movies

5th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

2

Unicode

U+4E86

Shuowen

“了,尦也。从子無臂,象形。”


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