shì

is

Origin unclear. The bottom component represents the sound.

Components
旦 unknown component

  Unknown component

dàn

  

dawn

The purpose of this component is unclear.

止 sound component

  Sound component

zhǐ

  

(foot), stop

Evolution

是 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

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

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

shì

indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that; is; are; am; yes

() 

shì

variant of [shì]; (used in given names)

Most common words with 是
Freq.
Word
Meaning

is

就是

precisely

但是

but

还是

or

不是

no

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Sound component in 13 characters (6 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[d]eʔ

dzyeX

shì

this


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 100.0000% of movies

4th most common character in movies

3rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Unicode

U+662F

Shuowen

“是,直也。从日、正。昰,籀文是,从古文正。”


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