Dong Chinese dictionary

jí, jǐ

spine

Originally was a pictograph of a fish spine. Later changed into a phonosemantic compound with ⺼ representing the meaning and 朿 representing the sound.

Components

朿 Sound component

cì

thorn, stab

脊 and 朿 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.脊 /*[ts]ek/
朿 /*[tsʰ]ek-s/

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

⺼ Meaning component

ròu

meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

Evolution

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

脊

jí

spine, backbone; ridge

脊

jǐ

spine; back; Taiwan pr. [jí] or [jǐ]

Most common words with 脊

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	脊椎	vertebra
	脊髓	spinal cord
	脊柱	spinal column
	脊	spine
	山脊	mountain ridge

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

嵴

Sound component in 4 characters (0 verified)

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

漢語多功能字庫

Freq.

Word

Meaning