Chinese Character Wiki
異

yì

different

Original meaning: 

carry on the head

Depicts two hands putting something on top of the head. Based on the original meaning "carry on the head", now written as 戴. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

異 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
異 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
異 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
異 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
異 Regular script Modern

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 異
Freq.
Word
Meaning

异常

exceptional

差异

difference

异

other

怪异

monstrous

诡异

strange

Component uses

Sound component in 4 characters (1 verified)

戴 翼 冀 糞

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

戴

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*ɢ(r)ək-s

yiH

yì

different


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 41.1981% of movies

993rd most common character in movies

709th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

11

Simplified

异

Unicode

U+7570

Shuowen

“異，分也。从廾、从畀。畀，予也。”


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