轅
yuán

axle

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 袁 represents the sound.

Components

車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
袁
袁 Sound component
yuán robe

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjwon[ɢ]ʷa[n]carriage-pole
Zhengzhangɢʷan
Unicodehiuæn

說文解字

輈也。从車袁聲。

Sources

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

辕 yuán axle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 袁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 轅.

Components

车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
袁
袁 Sound component
yuán robe

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode