字
Definition
* 用来记录语言的符号。 文～。汉～。～符。～母。～典。～句。～里行（ háng ）间。～斟句酌。 * 文字的不同形式，书法的派别。 草～。篆～。颜～。柳～。欧～。赵～。 * 书法的作品。 ～画。～幅。 * 字的音。 ～正腔圆。 * 人的别名，亦称"表～"，现多称"号"；商店的名称，亦称"～号"。 * 合同，契约。 ～据。 * 旧时称女子出嫁。 待～闺中。 * 生子，乳，爱。 ～乳（生育）。～孕（怀孕）
letter, character, word
Structure
Related substructures
Precursors
Bronze Inscriptions
c. 1200–221 BCE (Shang–Zhou; continues into the Warring States)
Inscriptions cast or engraved on ritual bronzes, especially prominent from the Western Zhou onward; a major source for early political, ritual, and social history.Wikipedia ->
Qin Script
c. 475–206 BCE (Qin, Warring States → Qin dynasty)
Qin-area character forms attested on bamboo/wood slips (e.g., Shuihudi, deposited 217 BCE), overlapping chronologically with the standardization of seal script and the emergence of clerical tendencies.Wikipedia ->
Small Seal Script
Standardized 221–206 BCE (Qin); developed earlier in Qin
The standardized seal script promulgated after Qin’s unification, based on earlier Qin seal forms and used as an empire-wide norm.Wikipedia ->
Clerical Script
c. 300 BCE–220 CE (emerged late Warring States/Qin; dominant Han)
A practical script that evolved from late Warring States/Qin writing; it matured and became dominant in the Han dynasty, favoring faster, more rectilinear strokes.Wikipedia ->
Transmitted Pre-Qin Forms
Pre-Qin forms (≤221 BCE) / late 2nd century BCE onward (Han → later textual transmission)
Pre-Qin character forms preserved through later textual transmission (often discussed as the 'Old Text' / guwen tradition). Shaped by repeated copying, they can diverge from excavated Warring States materials.Wikipedia ->