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''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. Although not the first comprehensive
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanj ...
dictionary (the '' Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them, as well as the first to use the principle of organization by sections with shared components called radicals (''bùshǒu'' 部首, lit. "section headers").


Circumstances of compilation

Xu Shen Xu Shen ( CE) was a Chinese calligrapher, philologist, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-189). He was born in the Zhaoling district of Run'an prefecture (today known as Luohe in Henan Province). During his own lifetime, ...
, a Han Dynasty scholar of the
Five Classics The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism. Four Books The Four Books () are ...
, compiled the ''Shuowen Jiezi''. He finished editing it in 100 CE, but due to an unfavorable imperial attitude towards scholarship, he waited until 121 CE before having his son Xǔ Chōng present it to
Emperor An of Han Emperor An of Han (; 94 – 30 April 125) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty and the sixth emperor of the Eastern Han, ruling from 106 to 125. He was the grandson of Emperor Zhang. When her infant stepson Emperor Shang succeeded ...
along with a memorial. In analyzing the structure of characters and defining the words represented by them, Xu Shen strove to disambiguate the meaning of the pre-Han Classics, so as to render their usage by government unquestioned and bring about order, and in the process also deeply imbued his organization and analyses with his philosophy on characters and the universe. According to Boltz (1993:430), Xu's compilation of the ''Shuowen'' "cannot be held to have arisen from a purely linguistic or lexicographical drive." His motives were more pragmatic and political. During the Han era, the prevalent theory of language was Confucianist
Rectification of Names The rectification of names () is originally a doctrine of feudal Confucian designations and relationships, behaving accordingly to ensure social harmony. Without such accordance society would essentially crumble and "undertakings would not be comp ...
, the belief that using the correct names for things was essential for proper government. Xu's
postface A postface is the opposite of a preface, a brief article or explanatory information placed at the end of a book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of p ...
(''xù'' 敘) to the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' (tr. O'Neill 2013: 436) explains: "Now, as for writing systems and their offspring characters, these are the root of the classics, the origin of kingly government, what former men used to hand down to posterity, and what later men use to remember antiquity." Compare how the postface describes the legendary invention of writing for governmental rather than for communicative purposes:
The Scribe of the
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...
,
Cangjie Cangjie () is a legendary ancient Chinese figure said to have been an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes, and that when he invented the characters, the deities an ...
, observing the traces of the footprints and tracks of birds and wild animals, understood that their linear structures could be distinguished from one another by the differences between them. When he first created writing by carving in wood, the hundred officials became regulated, and the myriad things became discriminated. (tr. O'Neill 2013: 430)
Pre-''Shuowen'' Chinese dictionaries like the '' Erya'' and the '' Fangyan'' were limited lists of synonyms loosely organized by semantic categories, which made it difficult to look up characters. Xu Shen analytically organized characters in the comprehensive ''Shuowen Jiezi'' through their shared graphic components, which Boltz (1993:431) calls "a major conceptual innovation in the understanding of the Chinese writing system."


Structure

Xu wrote the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' to analyze
seal script Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal ...
(specifically ''xiǎozhuàn'' 小篆 "small seal") characters that evolved slowly and organically throughout the mid-to-late Zhou dynasty in the state of Qin, and which were then standardized during the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
and promulgated empire-wide. Thus, Needham et al. (1986: 217) describe the ''Shuowen jiezi'' as "a paleographic handbook as well as a dictionary". The dictionary includes a preface and 15 chapters. The first 14 chapters are character entries; the 15th and final chapter is divided into two parts: a postface and an index of section headers. Xǔ Shèn states in his postface that the dictionary has 9,353 character entries, plus 1,163 graphic variants, with a total length of 133,441 characters. The transmitted texts vary slightly in content, owing to omissions and emendations by commentators (especially Xú Xuàn, see below), and modern editions have 9,831 characters and 1,279 variants.


Sections

Xu Shen categorized Chinese characters into 540 sections, under "section headers" (''bùshǒu'', now the standard linguistic and lexicographical term for character radicals): these may be entire characters or simplifications thereof, which also serve as components shared by all the characters in that section. The number of section headers, 540, numerologically equals 6 × 9 × 10, the product of the symbolic numbers of
Yin and Yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...
and the number of the
Heavenly Stems The ten Heavenly Stems or Celestial Stems () are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty, c. 1250 BC, as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-period ritual as names for dead family mem ...
. The first section header was 一 (''yī'' "one; first") and the last was 亥 (''hài'', the last character of the
Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals. Origin This system was built ...
). Xu's choice of sections appears in large part to have been driven by the desire to create an unbroken, systematic sequence among the headers themselves, such that each had a natural, intuitive relationship (e.g., structural, semantic or
phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
) with the ones before and after, as well as by the desire to reflect
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
. In the process, he included many section headers that are not considered ones today, such as 炎 (''yán'' "flame") and 熊 (''xióng'' "bear"), which modern dictionaries list under the 火 or 灬 (''huǒ'' "fire") heading. He also included as section headers all the
sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...
characters, that is, the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches. As a result, unlike modern dictionaries which attempt to maximize the number of characters under each section header, 34 ''Shuowen'' headers have no characters under them, while 159 have only one each. From a modern lexicographical perspective, Xu's system of 540 headings can seem "enigmatic" and "illogical". For instance, he included the singular section header 409 惢 (''ruǐ'' "doubt"), with only one rare character (''ruǐ'' 繠 "stamen"), instead of listing it under the common header 408 心 (''xīn'' "heart; mind").


Character entries

The typical ''Shuowen'' format for a character entry consists of a seal graph, a short definition (usually a single synonym, occasionally in a punning way as in the ''
Shiming The ''Shiming'' (), also known as the ''Yìyǎ'' (逸雅; ''I-ya''; ''Lost Erya''), is a Chinese dictionary that employed phonological glosses, and "is believed to date from ''c''. 200 E. This dictionary is linguistically invaluable because it ...
''), a pronunciation given by citing a
homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
, and analysis of compound graphs into semantic and/or phonetic components. Individual entries can additionally include graphic variants, secondary definitions, information on regional usages, citations from pre-Han texts, and further phonetic information, typically in ''dúruò'' (讀若 "read like") notation. In addition to the seal graph, Xu included two kinds of variant graphs when they differed from the standard seal, called ''ancient script'' (''gǔwén'' 古文) and ''Zhòu script'' (''Zhòuwén'' 籀文, not to be confused with the
Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...
). The ''Zhòu'' characters were taken from the no-longer extant ''
Shizhoupian The ''Shizhoupian'' () is the first known Chinese dictionary, and was written in the ancient Great Seal script. The work was traditionally dated to the reign of King Xuan of Zhou (827–782 BCE), but many modern scholars assign it to the State ...
'', an early copybook traditionally attributed to a Shĭ Zhòu, or Historian Zhou, in the court of King Xuan of Zhou (r. 827–782 BCE).
Wang Guowei Wang Guowei (; 2 December 18772 June 1927) or Wang Kuo-wei, courtesy name Jing'an () or Boyu (), was a Chinese historian and poet. A versatile and original scholar, he made important contributions to the studies of ancient history, epigraphy, ph ...
and Tang Lan argued that the structure and style of these characters suggested a later date, but some modern scholars such as
Qiu Xigui Qiu Xigui (; born 13July 1935) is a Chinese historian, palaeographer, and professor of Fudan University. His book ''Chinese Writing'' is considered the "single most influential study of Chinese palaeography". Early life and education Qiu Xigui ...
argue for the original dating. The ''guwen'' characters were based on the characters used in pre-Qin copies of the classics recovered from the walls of houses where they had been hidden to escape the burning of books ordered by
Qin Shihuang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
. Xu believed that these were the most ancient characters available, since
Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
would have used the oldest characters to best convey the meaning of the texts. However, Wang Guowei and other scholars have shown that they were regional variant forms in the eastern areas during the
Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
, from only slightly earlier than the Qin seal script. Even as copyists transcribed the main text of the book in
clerical script The clerical script (; Japanese: 隷書体, ''reishotai''; Korean: 예서 (old spelling 례서); Vietnamese: lệ thư), sometimes also chancery script, is a style of Chinese writing which evolved from the late Warring States period to the Qi ...
in the late Han, and then in modern standard script in the centuries to follow, the small seal characters continued to be copied in their own (seal) script to preserve their structure, as were the ''guwen'' and ''Zhouwen'' characters.


Character analysis

The title of the work draws a basic distinction between two types of characters, ''wén'' 文 and ''zì'' 字, the former being those composed of a single graphic element (such as ''shān'' 山 "mountain"), and the latter being those containing more than one such element (such as ''hǎo'' 好 "good" with 女 "woman" and 子 "child") which can be deconstructed into and analyzed in terms of their component elements. Note that the character 文 itself exemplifies the category ''wén'' 文, while 字 (which is composed of 宀 and 子) exemplifies ''zì'' 字. Thus, ''Shuōwén Jiězì'' means "commenting on" (''shuō'' "speak; talk; comment; explain") the ''wén'', which cannot be deconstructed, and "analyzing" (''jiě'' "untie; separate; divide; analyze; explain; deconstruct") the ''zì''. Although the "six principles" of
Chinese character classification All Chinese characters are logograms, but several different types can be identified, based on the manner in which they are formed or derived. There are a handful which derive from pictographs () and a number which are ideographic () in origin, i ...
(''liùshū'' 六書 "six graphs") had been mentioned by earlier authors, Xu Shen's postface was the first work to provide definitions and examples. He uses the first two terms, simple indicatives (''zhǐshì'' 指事) and pictograms (''xiàngxíng'' 象形) to explicitly label character entries in the dictionary, e.g., in the typical pattern of "(character) (definition) ...simple indicative" (A B 也...指事 (也)). Logographs belonging to the third principle, phono-semantic compound characters (''xíngshēng'' 形聲), are implicitly identified through the entry pattern ''A… from B, phonetically resembles C'' (''A...從 B, C 聲''), meaning that element B plays a semantic role in A, while C gives the sound. The fourth type, compound indicatives (''huìyì'' 會意), are sometimes identified by the pattern ''A...from X from Y'' (''A...從 X 從 Y''), meaning that the compound A is given meaning through the graphic combination and interaction of both constituent elements. The last two of the six principles, borrowed characters (aka phonetic loan, ''jiǎjiè'' 假借) and derived characters (''zhuǎnzhù'' 轉注), are not identifiable in the character definitions. According to Imre Galambos, the function of the ''Shuowen'' was educational. Since Han studies of writing are attested to have begun by pupils of 8 years old, Xu Shen's categorization of characters was proposed to be understood as a mnemonic methodology for juvenile students.


Textual history and scholarship

Although the original Han dynasty ''Shuōwén Jiězì'' text has been lost, it was transmitted through handwritten copies for centuries. The oldest extant trace of it is a six-page manuscript fragment from the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, amounting to about 2% of the entire text. The fragment, now in Japan, concerns the ''mù'' (木) section header. The earliest post-Han scholar known to have researched and emended this dictionary, albeit badly, was Lǐ Yángbīng (李陽冰, fl. 765–780), who "is usually regarded as something of a ''bête noire'' of 'Shuowen''studies," writes Boltz, "owing to his idiosyncratic and somewhat capricious editing of the text." ''Shuowen'' scholarship improved greatly during the
Southern Tang Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. ...
-
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
dynasties and later during the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
. The most important Northern Song scholars were the Xú brothers, Xú Xuàn (徐鉉, 916–991) and Xú Kǎi (徐鍇, 920–974). In 986,
Emperor Taizong of Song Zhao Jiong (20 November 939 – 8 May 997), known as Zhao Guangyi from 960 to 977 and Zhao Kuangyi before 960, also known by his temple name Taizong after his death, was the second emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 976 to h ...
ordered Xú Xuàn and other editors to publish an authoritative edition of the dictionary. This was published as the 説文解字繫傳 Shuowen Jiezi xichuan. Xu Xuan's textual criticism has been especially vital for all subsequent scholarship, since his restoration of the damage done by Lǐ Yángbīng resulted in the closest version we have to the original, and the basis for all later editions. Xu Kai, in turn, focused on exegetical study, analyzing the meaning of Xu Shen's text, appending supplemental characters, and adding fǎnqiè pronunciation glosses for each entry. Among Qing ''Shuowen'' scholars, some like Zhū Jùnshēng (朱駿聲, 1788–1858), followed the textual criticism model of Xu Xuan, while others like Guì Fù (桂馥, 1736–1805) and Wáng Yún (王筠, 1784–1834) followed the analytical exegesis model of Xu Kai. One Qing scholar,
Duan Yucai Duan Yucai () (1735–1815), courtesy name Ruoying () was a Chinese philologist of the Qing Dynasty. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology, and is known for his annotated edition of ''Shuowen Jiezi''. Biograph ...
, stands above all the others due to the quality of his research in both areas. His annotated ''Shuowen'' edition ('' Shuowen Jiezi Zhu'') is the one most commonly used by students today. Although the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' has had incalculable value to scholars and was traditionally relied upon as the most important early source on the structure of Chinese characters, many of its analyses and definitions have been eclipsed as vague or inaccurate since the discovery of
oracle bone inscriptions Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or turtle plastrons used in pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millennium BC, and is the earliest kno ...
in the late 19th century. It therefore can no longer be relied upon as the single, authoritative source for definitions and graphic derivations. Xu Shen lacked access to oracle bone inscriptions from the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
and bronzeware inscriptions from the Shang and
Western Zhou dynasty The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong nom ...
, to which scholars now have access; they are often critical for understanding the structures and origins of logographs. For instance, he put ''lǜ'' (慮 "be concerned; consider") under the section heading 思 (''sī'' "think") and noted it had a phonetic of ''hǔ'' (虍 "tiger"). However, the early bronze graphs for ''lǜ'' (慮) have the ''xīn'' (心 "heart") semantic component and a ''lǚ'' (呂 "a musical pitch") phonetic, also seen in early forms of ''lǔ'' (盧 "vessel; hut") and ''lǔ'' (虜 "captive"). Scholarship in the 20th century offered new understandings and accessibility. Ding Fubao collected all available ''Shuowen'' materials, clipped and arranged them in the original dictionary order, and photolithographically printed a colossal edition. Notable advances in ''Shuowen'' research have been made by Chinese and Western scholars like Mǎ Zōnghuò (馬宗霍), Mǎ Xùlún (馬敘倫), William G. Boltz,
Weldon South Coblin Weldon South Coblin, Jr. (born February 26, 1944) is an American Sinologist, linguist, and educator, best known for his studies of Chinese linguistics and Tibetan. Life and career Coblin attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate st ...
, Thomas B.I. Creamer, Paul Serruys, Roy A. Miller, and K.L. Thern.


See also

* List of Kangxi radicals – a later way to classify Chinese characters * Shuowen Jiezi (television program)


References


Citations


Sources

* Atsuji Tetsuji (阿辻哲次). ''Kanjigaku: Setsumon kaiji no sekai'' 漢字学―説文解字の世界. Tôkyô: Tôkai daigaku shuppankai, 1985. , * * Bottéro Françoise. (1996). «Sémantisme et classification dans l'écriture chinoise : Les systèmes de classement des caractères par clés du ''Shuowen Jiezi'' au ''Kangxi Zidian.'' Collège de France-IHEC''. (Mémoires de l'Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises; 37).'' * * * * Creamer, Thomas B.I. (1989) "Shuowen Jiezi and Textual Criticism in China," ''International Journal of Lexicography'' 2:3, pp. 176–187. * Ding Fubao (丁福保). 1932. ''Shuowen Jiezi Gulin'' (說文解字詁林 "A Forest of Glosses on the ''Shuowen Jiezi''"). 16 vols. Repr. Taipei: Commercial Press. 1959. 12 vols. *
Duan Yucai Duan Yucai () (1735–1815), courtesy name Ruoying () was a Chinese philologist of the Qing Dynasty. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology, and is known for his annotated edition of ''Shuowen Jiezi''. Biograph ...
(1815). "說文解字注" (''Shuōwén Jĭezì Zhù,'' commentary on the ''Shuōwén Jíezì''), compiled 1776–1807. This classic edition of ''Shuowen'' is still reproduced in facsimile by various publishers, e.g., in Taipei by Li-ming Wen-hua Co Tiangong Books (1980, 1998), which edition conveniently highlights the main entry seal characters in red ink, and adds the modern ''kǎi'' 楷 standard script versions of them at the tops of the columns, with bopomofo phoneticization alongside. * * (English translation of ''Wénzìxué Gàiyào'' 文字學概要, Shangwu, 1988.) * Miller, Roy Andrew. 1953 ''Problems in the study of Shuo-wen chieh-tzu''. PhD. Thesis, Columbia University. * Needham, Joseph, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsung (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1 Botany''. Cambridge University Press. * O'Neill, Timothy (2013), "Xu Shen's Scholarly Agenda: A New Interpretation of the Postface of the ''Shuowen jiezi''," ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 133.3: 413-440. * Serruys, Paul L-M. (1984) "On the System of the ''Pu Shou'' 部首 in the ''Shuo-wen chieh-tzu'' 說文解字", ''Zhōngyāng Yánjiūyuàn Lìshǐ Yǔyán Yánjiùsuǒ Jíkān'' (中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊, Journal of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica), v.55:4, pp. 651–754. *
Wang Guowei Wang Guowei (; 2 December 18772 June 1927) or Wang Kuo-wei, courtesy name Jing'an () or Boyu (), was a Chinese historian and poet. A versatile and original scholar, he made important contributions to the studies of ancient history, epigraphy, ph ...
(1979). "史籀篇敘錄" ommentary on the Shĭ Zhoù Piānand "史籀篇疏證序" reface to a Study of the ''Shĭ Zhòu Piān'' in 海寧王靜安先生遺書‧觀堂集林 he Collected works of Mr. Wáng Jìng-Ān of Hǎiníng (Guan Tang Ji Lin) Taipei: 商務印書館 Commercial Press reprint, pp. 239–295. * Xu Zhongshu :zh:徐中舒. "丁山說文闕義箋" ommentary on the errors in Shuowen by Ding Shan


External links

; Explicatives * ** pages 28–29 : List of the 540 radicals in Xiaozhuan.
''Shuowen jiezi'' 說文解字
– Chinaknowledge (Archive)

''Shuōwén Jiězì'' radical chart (Archive) ; Copies
《說文解字》
comparative database of different editions – Beijing Normal University
《說文解字》
electronic edition – Chinese Text Project
《说文解字注》 全文检索 – 许慎撰 段玉裁注
facsimile edition *Scanned editions at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
: ** from the '' Siku Quanshu'': chapter
12–34–56–78–910–1112–13
an
14–15
** from the ''Siku Quanshu Huiyao'': chapter
1–234–56–78–910–1112–13
an
14–15
; Various
《說文解字》全文檢索測試版

《說文解字》在线查询

Chinese Etymology
online dictionary with ''Shuowen''s definitions – Richard Sears *
– 漢字データベースプロジェクト/Kanji Database Project

''Shuowen'' online text version with ''Duàn Yùcái'' "說文解字注", 釋名 ''Shiming'', 爾雅 ''Erya'', 方言 ''Fangyan'', 廣韻 ''Guangyun'' définitions and glosses
by Alain Lucas & Jean-Louis Schott and with "集韻 Jiyun" and "玉篇 Yupian" texts by Jean-Louis Schott. {{Authority control Han dynasty texts Chinese classic texts Chinese dictionaries Chinese characters History of linguistics 2nd-century books