孤鸾年
gū​luán​nián

inauspicious marriage year

孤 gū orphan

Phonosemantic compound. 子 represents the meaning and 瓜 represents the sound.

Components

子
子 Meaning component
zi, zǐ child
瓜
瓜 Sound component
guā melon

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

菰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkukʷˤa orphan

說文解字

《說文》：“孤，無父也。从子，瓜聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鸾 luán fabulous bird Simplified

Components

亦
亦 Meaning component
yì also

bird

鸟
鸟 Sound component
niǎo bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

年 nián year

Original meaning: harvest

Pictograph of a person (人) harvesting grain (禾). The harvest season is a yearly event.

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnenC.nˤi[ŋ] harvest; year

說文解字

《說文》：“年，穀孰也。从禾，千聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.574-575
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鸞 fabulous bird Traditional

Components

䜌
䜌 Meaning component
luán tie together

bird

鳥
鳥 Sound component
niǎo bird

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlwan[r]ˤonphoenix
Zhengzhangb·roːn
Unicodeluɑn

說文解字

亦神靈之精也。赤色，五采，雞形。鳴中五音，頌聲作則至。从鳥䜌聲。周成王時氐羌獻鸞鳥。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)