yǐ
already
Original meaning:
a type of snake creature
Derived from 巳. Depicts a snake-like creature. Based on the original meaning "a type of snake creature". The current meaning "already" is a phonetic loan.
Evolution

Bronze script
Late Spring and Autumn (~500 BC)Regular script
ModernDefinitions
Component uses
Sound component in 1 character (1 verified)
Simplified component in 1 character (1 verified)
Historical pronunciation
Old Chinese | Middle Chinese | Pinyin | Gloss |
*ɢ(r)əʔ | yiX | yǐ | cease; already |
Statistics
HSK level 3
Appears in 99.0549% of movies
129th most common character in movies
117th most common character in books
Miscellaneous
Strokes | 3 |
Unicode | U+5DF2 |
Sources
季旭昇《說文新證》p.979
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