Dīng​mǎo Zhàn​zhēng

Dingmao war

dīng cubes

Original meaning: city wall

In ancient scripts was written in two different ways: (1) depicting the walls of a city, which is now written as , or (2) depicting a nail, which is now written as .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (14 of 24 verified)

Iconic (2)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttengtˤeŋ 4th heavenly stem
tengtˤeŋ nail (n.)
treangtˤreŋ sound of beating

說文解字

《說文》:“丁,夏時萬物皆丁實。象形。丁承丙,象人心。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p. 962
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

mǎo 4th terrestrial branch

Original meaning: butcher's knife

Depicts two knives side-by-side. Based on the original meaning "butcher's knife". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 12 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaewXmˤruʔ 4th earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》:“卯,冒也。二月萬物冒地而出,象開門之形。故二月為天門。,古文卯。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhàn war Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Sound component
zhàn divine
Meaning component
spear

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

zhēng strife, quarrel Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts two hands ( ) grabbing the same plow.

Components

zhǎo hand, claw
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a plow.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 10 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

zhàn war Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
dān single
Meaning component
spear

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyenHtar-s to fear
tsyenHtar-s battle

說文解字

《說文》:“戰,鬭也。从戈,單聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhēng strife, quarrel Traditional

Depicts two hands ( ) grabbing the same plow.

Components

Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

is a component form of .

Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a plow.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsreang[ts]ˤreŋ
(~ *m-tsˤreŋ or *mə-tsˤreŋ)
strife, quarrel

說文解字

《說文》:“爭,引也。从、厂。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica