Dong Chinese dictionary

sì

temple

Original meaning:

to hold

Phonosemantic compound. 寸 represents the meaning and 之 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to hold", now written as 持. The current meaning "temple" is a phonetic loan.

Components

寸 Meaning component

cùn

(hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

寸 hints at the original meaning of 寺, "to hold", which is no longer the most common meaning of 寺 in modern Mandarin.

之 Sound component

zhī

[attributive particle]

寺 and 之 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.寺 /*s-[d]əʔ-s/
之 /*tə/, /*tə/

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

Evolution