<p>「鐵」 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_(1981%E2%80%931995)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Zhengzhang OC</a>: <strong>/*l̥ʰiːɡ/</strong>, <em>black metal</em> &gt; <em>iron</em>) is comprised of semantic 「金」 (<em>metal</em>) and phonetic 「」 (<strong>/*l'iɡ/</strong>, using the reconstruction of 「秩」)*. 「」 (top-left component 「大」) was later corrupted into 「」 (top-left component 「十」).</p>
<p>「鐵」 represents the same word as 「驖」 (<em>black horse</em>), which also uses the component 「」. If you recursively trace the components downwards, you eventually end up with a phonetic 「呈」 (<strong>/*rleŋ/</strong>).</p>
<hr />
<p>* <a href="https://www.shuowen.org/view/6572?bushou=%E5%A4%A7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">《說文・大部》</a>，大也。从大聲。讀若《詩》「大猷」。<a href="https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/qiao-yan/zh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">《詩・巧言》</a>：秩秩大猷、聖人莫之。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-25T03:56:44.650Z
2023-09-25T03:56:44.650Z
dROOOze
<p>I've never seen  in any other character before, so I'll take that  is exclusively for 鐵 (just like 邊 and 微 which I've asked before in the past). So where does  come from? It seems to be a combination of relatively unrelated components, and none of them sound like 鐵.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-24T16:48:50.320Z
 | 同【国】。Nothing to do with 鐵.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-25T03:30:51.990Z
@Mou某 reading that as 「國」 looks like a 同形異字 (「或」+「王」+ ...). The component in 「鐵」 is 「戈」+「呈」 + ...
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-25T09:40:10.357Z
@Mou某 戜 (U+621C) and  (U+229CC) were indeed easily conflated.
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-25T18:31:26.880Z
@Michaelyus Not to mention U+229DC.
Mou某
<glyph-origin>
Glyph origin of 鐵
# Glyph origin of 鐵

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-24)

I've never seen in any other character before, so I'll take that is exclusively for 鐵 (just like 邊 and 微 which I've asked before in the past). So where does come from? It seems to be a combination of relatively unrelated components, and none of them sound like 鐵.

**Tags:** glyph-origin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**:  | 同【国】。Nothing to do with 鐵.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 reading that as 「國」 looks like a 同形異字 (「或」+「王」+ ...). The component in 「鐵」 is 「戈」+「呈」 + ...  
> **username_3**: @username_1 戜 (U+621C) and  (U+229CC) were indeed easily conflated.  
> **username_1**: @username_3 Not to mention U+229DC.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-09-25. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

「鐵」 ([Zhengzhang OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_(1981%E2%80%931995)): **/\*l̥ʰiːɡ/**, *black metal* > *iron*) is comprised of semantic 「金」 (*metal*) and phonetic 「」 (**/\*l'iɡ/**, using the reconstruction of 「秩」)\*. 「」 (top-left component 「大」) was later corrupted into 「」 (top-left component 「十」).

「鐵」 represents the same word as 「驖」 (*black horse*), which also uses the component 「」. If you recursively trace the components downwards, you eventually end up with a phonetic 「呈」 (**/\*rleŋ/**).

---

\* [《說文・大部》](https://www.shuowen.org/view/6572?bushou=%E5%A4%A7)，大也。从大聲。讀若《詩》「大猷」。[《詩・巧言》](https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/qiao-yan/zh)：秩秩大猷、聖人莫之。


---

