氐 (dǐ): foundation; root; base (literar…

Meanings

1 foundation; root; base (literary)
2 to lower; to bow down (archaic)

Characters

氐

dǐ

foundation; root; base (literary)

Examples

HSK 7-9

尹氏大师，维周之氐。

Yǐn shì dà shī, wéi Zhōu zhī dǐ.

The minister Yin is the foundation of Zhou.

HSK 7-9

封君皆氐首仰给焉。

Fēngjūn jiē dǐ shǒu yǎng jǐ yān.

The aristocrats all bowed their heads in submission.

Tips

register

Archaic - modern Chinese uses 底 for the 'foundation / bottom' sense, and 低 for 'low / lower'. Both later characters were added precisely to specialize this single ancient root. You see 氐 (third tone) only in classical texts like 《诗经》 and 《说文》.

Components

radical

氏 shì

clan; family name

Upper 氏 (Kangxi #83, clan) - anchors the tribe-name sense. The radical depicted a person bending to the earth, by extension 'lineage'.

ideograph

一 yī

one (here a marker stroke)

Bottom horizontal - an indicator stroke marking the 'base / bottom' of 氏. This original 'base' sense is what survives in the homograph dǐ ('foundation').