三江平原
Sān​jiāng​píng​yuán

Sanjiang Plain

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)

江 jiāng large river

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

工
工 Sound component
gōng work
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

鸿鴻茳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaewngkˤroŋ (Yangzi) river

說文解字

《說文》：“江，水。出蜀湔氐徼外崏山，入海。从水，工聲。”

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)

平 píng flat

Original meaning: to strike

Depicts using a staff (丂) for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as 抨. The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the moving motion of striking.

丂
丂 Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a staff.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

评苹坪砰抨怦鲆枰評泙鮃

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

坪秤枰

Iconic (1)

抨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjien[b]en distinguish; punctiious
bjaengbreŋ even (adj.)
bjaengm-breŋ make even

說文解字

《說文》：“平，語平舒也。从亏，从八。八，分也。”

Sources

Character origin
王森《甲骨文、金文所谓“乎”字当释为“平”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

原 yuán source

Depicts water coming from a spring (泉) on a cliff (厂).

Components

厂
厂 Iconic component
chǎng cliff, (roof)
泉
泉 SoundIconic component
quán spring

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

愿源螈塬願

Meaning (1)

源

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjwonN-ɢʷar spring, source; origin
ngjwonN-ɢʷar high plain (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，水泉本也。从灥出厂下。原，篆文从泉。”

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)