标签
biāoqiān · HSK 7
label
🏷️ BYOW-chien = mark + stick: a label you stick on things
标 means mark or sign, 签 means to sign or a thin stick (like a toothpick). Together they form something marked and stuck on — a label or tag. Think of peeling a price sticker off a book.
标 — tree 木 + 票 (ticket/phonetic)
Originally written 標, this is a semantic-phonetic compound: 木 (tree) gives the meaning and 票 supplies the sound. It first referred to the tip or top of a tree, then extended to any marker, sign, or label placed at a prominent point. The simplified form 标 keeps the same structure with a reduced phonetic.
签 — bamboo radical 竹 (⺮) + 佥 (qiān, phonetic)
Originally written 籤, this character depicts bamboo strips (⺮) used as markers, tags, or lots drawn for divination. The component 佥 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from physical bamboo slips to labels, signatures, and signing one's name.