Editing Homograph (section)

===Old Chinese===
Modern study of [[Old Chinese]] has found patterns that suggest a system of [[affix]]es.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chinese|last=Norman|first=Jerry|author-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist)|year=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-22809-1|page=84}}</ref> One pattern is the addition of the [[prefix]] {{IPA|/*ɦ/}}, which turns [[transitive verbs]] into [[intransitive verb|intransitive]] or [[passive voice|passives]] in some cases:<ref name=baxterhandbook>{{cite book |title=A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)|last=Baxter|first=William H.|year=1992|publisher=de Gruyter Mouton|location=Berlin and New York|isbn=978-3-11-012324-1|pages=218–220}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Word !! Pronunciation<sub>a</sub> !! Meaning<sub>a</sub> !! Pronunciation<sub>b</sub> !! Meaning<sub>b</sub>
|-
| 見<ref>The two meanings were later distinguished through the means of radicals, so that 見 ('to see', Std. Mand. jiàn) was unchanged, while 見 ('to appear', Std. Mand. xiàn) came to be written as 現.</ref>||{{IPA|*kens}} || see || {{IPA|*ɦkens}} || appear
|-
| 敗<ref>This distinction was preserved in Middle Chinese using voiced and unvoiced initials.  Thus, 敗 (transitive, 'to defeat') was read as 北邁切 (Baxter, paejH), while 敗 (intransitive, 'to collapse; be defeated') was read as 薄邁切 (Baxter, baejH).  《增韻》：凡物不自敗而敗之，則北邁切。物自毀壞，則薄邁切。Modern Wu dialects (e.g., Shanghainese, Suzhounese), which preserve the three-way Middle Chinese contrast between voiced/aspirated/unaspirated initials, do not appear to preserve this distinction.</ref>||{{IPA|*prats}} || defeat || {{IPA|*ɦprats}} || be defeated
|-
|colspan="5"|All data from Baxter, 1992.<ref name=baxterhandbook/>
|}

Another pattern is the use of a {{IPA|/*s/}} [[suffix]], which seems to create nouns from verbs or verbs from [[noun]]s:<ref name=baxterhandbook/>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Word !! Pronunciation<sub>a</sub> !! Meaning<sub>a</sub> !! Pronunciation<sub>b</sub> !! Meaning<sub>b</sub>
|-
| 傳 || {{IPA|*dron}} || transmit || {{IPA|*drons}} || (n.) record
|-
| 磨 || {{IPA|*maj}} || grind || {{IPA|*majs}} || grindstone
|-
| 塞 || {{IPA|*sɨk}} || (v.) block || {{IPA|*sɨks}} ||border, frontier
|-
| 衣 || {{IPA|*ʔjɨj}} || clothing || {{IPA|*ʔjɨjs}} || wear, clothe
|-
| 王 || {{IPA|*wjaŋ}} || king || {{IPA|*wjaŋs}}|| be king
|-
|colspan="5"|All data from Baxter, 1992.<ref name=baxterhandbook/>
|}