wàn​xiàng​gēng​xīn

renewal

wàn ten thousand Simplified

Original meaning: to not be seen

Simplified form of . Variant of . Depicts a person () with a cover on top, conveying the original meaning "to not be seen". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
one

Used here to depict a cover.

Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmans
mɯːɡ

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.701黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2839-2840
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiàng elephant

Pictograph of an elephant.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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

Component uses

Iconic (3)

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzjangXs.[d]aŋʔ elephant

說文解字

《說文》:“象,長鼻牙,南越大獸,三年一乳。象耳牙四足之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.740
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

gèng, gēng more

Original meaning: continue; succession

Depicts using a whip () to control a succession of chariots (). also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "continue; succession". The meaning later shifted to "further" and "more".

Components

Iconic component
tap

Depicts a hand holding a whip.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
SoundIconic component
bǐng third

Used here to depict a chariot.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaengkˤraŋ change (v.)
kaengHkˤraŋ-s still more

說文解字

《說文》:“,改也。从攴,丙聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇 《說文新證》 p.241
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xīn new

Original meaning: firewood

Phonosemantic component. represents the sound, and (axe) and (tree) represent the original meaning "firewood", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "fresh" and "new".

Components

Sound component
xīn laborious
Iconic component
tree

Depicts a tree being cut for firewood.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Iconic component
jīn axe

Depicts an axe cutting a tree for firewood.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

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 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsins.tsʰi[n] new

說文解字

《說文》:“新,取木也。从斤,新聲。”

Sources

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

wàn ten thousand Traditional

Original meaning: scorpion

Originally a pictograph of a scorpion. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjonHC.ma[n]-s 10,000

說文解字

《說文》:“萬,蟲也。从厹,象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.954-955漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica