Asia

Original meaning: 

tomb

Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

亞 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
亞 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
亞 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

Asia; second; used as a prefix to names; next to; inferior; sub-; Taiwan pr. [yǎ]

() 

Asian; Taiwan pr. [Yǎ]

Most common words with 亞
Freq.
Word
Meaning

second

亚洲

Asia

澳大利亚

Australia

亚军

runner-up

亚当

Adam

Component uses

Sound component in 5 characters (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*ʔˤrak-s

'aeH

secondary


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 47.8776% of movies

440th most common character in movies

420th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

8

Simplified

Unicode

U+4E9E

Shuowen

“亞,醜也。象人局背之形。賈侍中說以為次弟也。”


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