的 - Dong Chinese dictionary

de, dī, dí, dì

[possessive]

Original meaning:

bright

Phonosemantic compound. 白 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bright".

Components

白 Meaning component

bái

white

白 hints at the original meaning of 的, "bright", which is no longer the most common meaning of 的 in modern Mandarin.

勺 Sound component

sháo

spoon

的 and 勺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.的 /*[t-l]ˤewk/
勺 /*m-tewk/, /*tewk/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

的

possessive, adjectival suffix; of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute); (used to form a nominal expression); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis)

的

dī

see 的士[dīshì]

的

dí

really and truly

的

dì

aim; clear

Most common words with 的