Dong Chinese dictionary

xí

to practice

Original meaning:

scorch

Phonosemantic compound. 彗 represents the sound and 日 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "to scorch". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

彗 Sound component

huì

broom

習 and 彗 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.習 /*s-ɢʷəp (with root *ɢʷəp ‘wing’?)/
彗 /*s-[ɢ]ʷe[t]-s/

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

日 Meaning component

rì

sun

日 hints at the original meaning of 習, "scorch", which is no longer the most common meaning of 習 in modern Mandarin.

Evolution