差 - Dong Chinese dictionary

chà, chā, chāi

to differ

Original meaning:

rub between fingers

Depicts grain (麥) being rolled between the fingers in the left hand (左). Based on the original meaning "rub between fingers", now written as 搓. The meaning later shifted to "uneven" and "error".

Components

麥 Iconic component

mài

wheat

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 麥 than it was in ancient scripts.

左 Sound Iconic component

zuǒ

left

差 and 左 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.差 /*tsʰraj/, /*[tsʰ]raj/, /*[tsʰ](ˤ)raj/, /*tsʰraj/, /*[tsʰ]ˤaj/
左 /*tsˤa[j]ʔ/, /*tsˤa[j]ʔ/, /*tsˤarʔ-s/

Evolution

Bronze script

Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

差

chà

to differ; different, wrong; nearly, almost; an officer; to differ from; to fall short of; lacking; wrong; inferior; Taiwan pr. [chā]

差

chā

difference; discrepancy; error; to err; to make a mistake

差

chāi

to send; to commission; messenger; mission

Most common words with 差

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	差	lacking
	差不多	almost
	差点	almost
	差异	difference
	差距	gap

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

蹉

Sound component in 8 characters (1 verified)

搓磋嗟槎蹉鹾嵯瘥

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese	Middle Chinese	Pinyin	Gloss
*tsʰraj	tsrhae	chā	distinction; to select
*[tsʰ]raj	tsrhea	chāi	distinction; to select
*[tsʰ](ˤ)raj	tsrheaj	chāi	distinction; to select
*tsʰraj	tsrhje	cī	參差 uneven
*[tsʰ]ˤaj	tsha	cuō	rub, polish, file (v.)