xié

evil

Original meaning: 

place name

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and ⻏ represents the meaning. Based on the original use as a place name. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components
牙 sound component

  Sound component

  

tooth

⻏ meaning component

  Meaning component

  

city

Evolution

邪 Bronze script Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Bronze script

Late Warring States (~250 BC)
邪 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

xié

wrong, evil, depraved, vicious, perverse, heterodox; demonic; iniquitous; nefarious; evil; unhealthy influences that cause disease (Chinese medicine); (coll.) strange; abnormal

() 

xié

old variant of [xié]

Most common words with 邪
Freq.
Word
Meaning

邪恶

sinister

demonic

邪教

evil cult

改邪归正

to mend one's ways (idiom)

邪气

evil influence

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sound component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*sə.ɢA

zjae

xié

awry

*sə.la

zjo

walk slowly

*ɢ(r)A

yae

琅邪 (name of a mountain in Shāndōng)

*[ɢ](r)A

yae

(interrogative particle)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 17.8760% of movies

1441st most common character in movies

1539th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

6

Unicode

U+90AA

Shuowen

“邪,琅邪郡。从邑,牙聲。”


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