三分熟
sān​fēn​shú

medium rare

三 sān three

Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 (2 of 4 verified)

参仨闫參

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

参叁仨參

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsams.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?)three
samHs.r[u]m-s (*s.r- > *s-, infl. by 四 *s-?)three times

說文解字

《說文》：“三，天地人之道也。从三數。弎，古文三从弋。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.51
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

分 fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife (刀) being used to cut two things apart (八).

Components

八
八 SoundIconic component
bā eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife

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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

份纷贫粉芬扮氛盆盼吩颁忿汾酚玢棼邠坌貧鼢紛頒棻

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

贫颁岔掰貧頒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjunpə[n] divide
bjunH[m]-pə[n]-s alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”

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)

熟 shú well-cooked, ripe

Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 孰 represents the sound.

Components

孰
孰 Sound component
shú who? which? what? which one?
灬
灬 Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyuwk[d]uk cooked, ripe

Sources

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