东方阿閦佛
Dōng​fāng'ā​chù​fó

Akshobhya

东 dōng east Simplified

Pictograph of a basket or a bag. The current meaning "east" is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 东 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 東.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

冻栋胨鸫岽

Unknown (1)

陈

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.492-493漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

方 fāng, fang square

Original meaning: cutting edge

Depicts the cutting edge (一) of a knife blade (刀). Similar in origin to 亡. Based on the original meaning "cutting edge". The meaning later expanded to "perimeter", "area", and "square".

Components

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 刀 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Depicts the cutting edge of a knife.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 20 verified)

放房防旁访仿芳妨纺坊肪彷舫鲂枋钫邡訪紡昉

Meaning (2 of 11 verified)

旁旋旌旖旎枋旆旒旄邊旉

Unknown (0 of 4 verified)

愣楞塄堃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjangC-paŋ square
pjangpaŋ method
pjangpaŋ just, then

說文解字

《說文》：“方，併船也。象兩舟省緫頭形。汸，方或从水。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.685-686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)

阿 ā name prefix

Original meaning: hillside

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hillside". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

Change in meaning
阝 hints at the original meaning of 阿, "hillside", which is no longer the most common meaning of 阿 in modern Mandarin.
可
可 Sound component
kě able to
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 (1 of 6 verified)

啊婀锕屙痾錒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'aqˤa[j] slope, river bank
'aʔˤa (< *qˤaj)阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara “shining” (E. Hàn)

說文解字

大陵也。一曰曲𨸏也。从𨸏可聲。

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)

閦 chù crowd

A crowd 众 walking through a gate 門

Components

門
門 Meaning component
mén, men door
众
众 Meaning component
zhòng crowd, people

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

佛 fú Buddha

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 弗 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

弗
弗 Sound component
fú not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjut[b][u]t great

說文解字

《說文》：“佛，見不審也。从人，弗聲。”

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)

東 dōng east Traditional

Pictograph of a basket or a bag. The current meaning "east" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

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
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 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 (2 of 6 verified)

重童鶇棟腖凍

Iconic (4)

重量熏㯥

Remnant (1)

量

Unknown (1)

陳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttuwngtˤoŋ (< *tˤoŋʔ ?)east

說文解字

《說文》：“東，動也。从木。官溥說，从日在木中。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.492-493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)