Dong Chinese dictionary

yì

different

Original meaning:

carry on the head

Phonosemantic compound. 廾 represents the meaning and 已 represents the sound. Simplified form of 異. Based on the original meaning "carry on the head", now written as 戴. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

已 Sound component

yǐ

already

廾 Meaning component

gǒng

two hands

廾 hints at the original meaning of 异, "carry on the head", which is no longer the most common meaning of 异 in modern Mandarin.

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

异 (異)

yì

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

Most common words with 异

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	异常	exceptional
	差异	difference
	异	other
	怪异	monstrous
	诡异	strange

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

李学勤《字源》p.204-205

Original meaning:

Freq.

Word

Meaning