sān​lián​shì​fā​piào

triplicate invoice

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)

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

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

lián connect Simplified

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

Components

Meaning component
ěr ear

Alludes to earrings connected to the ear.

Simplified component
guān to close

Shorthand for the phonetic 𢇇 component in the traditional character .

Sources

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

shì, shi style

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
gōng work
Sound component
to shoot
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 (2 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyikl̥ək pattern
syikl̥ək to wipe

說文解字

《說文》:“式,法也。从工,弋聲。”

Sources

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

fā, fa, fà issue Simplified

Simplified form of both (send out) and (hair). Visually similar to , the bottom component of .

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

piào slip of paper or bamboo

Original meaning: leaping flames

Phonosemantic compound. A remnant of represents the sound and represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "leaping flames". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundRemnant component
yào, yāo want
Iconic component
huǒ fire
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "leaping flames", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphjiewpʰew leaping flames (Shuōwén)

說文解字

《說文》:“,火飛也。从火、。與同意。”

Sources

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

lián connect Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𢇇 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ěr ear

Alludes to earrings connected to the ear.

𢇇
𢇇 Sound component
guān to run threads through a web in weaving
Change in sound

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》:“聯,連也。从耳,耳連於頰也;从絲,絲連不絕也。”

Sources

Character origin
Zhengzhang Shangfang漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

fā, fa, fà send out Traditional

Depicts a hand pulling back an arrow () in a bow (). represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
legs
Change in sound
Iconic component
gōng bow

Depicts a bow.

Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand pulling an arrow.

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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjotCə.pat fly forth, send forth

說文解字

《說文》:“發,發也。从弓,癹聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.880-881漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica