丢人现眼
diū​rén​xiàn​yǎn

lose face

丢 diū lose, discard Simplified

A horizontal line, depicting an item being discarded, added to the semantically similar character 去 (leave; go).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an item being discarded.

去
去 Meaning component
qù go away

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

铥

Sources

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

人 rén, ren person

Pictograph of the side view of a standing person.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

Iconic (65)

以年从此内先及克死万企众坐负竟介监临亮鬼兄闪寒盾夹卧欠吊兑囚蜀虐羌敖戍奂艮臨臥負閃監弔疒兌兒冘皃夌㐱夾夃奐臽卬翏丏𠩺𡵂𦰋飤幾秊𥁕厃

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

队亮允佘仝

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

认氽䧹

Simplified (1)

队

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

隳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyinni[ŋ] (other) person

說文解字

《說文》：“人，天地之性最貴者也。此籀文，象臂脛之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.630
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

现 xiàn appear Simplified

Simplified form of 現. Etymologically related to 见 (to see). Originally these two characters were written the same, then the 𤣩 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Distinguishing component
yù jade

Distinguishes 现 from 见.

见
见 SoundMeaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

眼 yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

目
目 Meaning component
mù eye
艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngonXŋˤə[n]ʔ protrude as a knob
ngeanX[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ eye

說文解字

《說文》：“眼，目也。从目，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)

丟 diū lose, discard Traditional

A horizontal line, depicting an item being discarded, added to the semantically similar character 去 (leave; go).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an item being discarded.

去
去 Meaning component
qù go away

Sources

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

現 xiàn appear Traditional

Etymologically related to 見 (to see). Originally these two characters were written the same, then the 𤣩 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Distinguishing component
yù jade

Distinguishes 現 from 見.

見
見 SoundMeaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthenHN-[k]ˤen-s appear

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart