different

Original meaning: 

carry on the head

Depicts two hands putting something on top of the head. Based on the original meaning "carry on the head", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

異 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
異 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
異 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

different, unusual, strange; different; other; hetero-; unusual; strange; surprising; to distinguish; to separate; to discriminate

Most common words with 異
Freq.
Word
Meaning

异常

exceptional

差异

difference

other

怪异

monstrous

诡异

strange

Component uses

Sound component in 4 characters (1 verified)

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*ɢ(r)ək-s

yiH

different


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 41.1981% of movies

993rd most common character in movies

709th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

11

Simplified

Unicode

U+7570

Shuowen

“異,分也。从廾、从畀。畀,予也。”


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