丧乱 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

sàng mourning Simplified

Simplified form of 喪. Depicts multiple mouths (吅) wailing to mourn the death (亡) of someone. 桑 and 亡 represent the sound.

Components

桑 Sound component

sāng mulberry tree

Change in form

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

吅 Iconic Simplified component

xuān, sòng noise

Depicts multiple mouths wailing.

亡 Sound Meaning component

wáng death

Change in form

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

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.107漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

luàn confusion, mess Simplified

Original meaning: untangle threads

Simplified form of 亂. Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components

舌 Simplified component

shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

乚 Distinguishing component

yǐn, yà turning stroke

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.960漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

sàng mourning Traditional

Depicts multiple mouths (吅) wailing to mourn the death (亡) of someone. 桑 and 亡 represent the sound.

Components

桑 Sound component

sāng mulberry tree

Change in form

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

吅 Iconic component

xuān, sòng noise

Depicts multiple mouths wailing.

亡 Sound Meaning component

wáng death

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sang	s-mˤaŋ	mourning, burial
	sangH	s-mˤaŋ-s	lose; destroy

說文解字

《說文》：“喪，亡也。从哭，从亡，會意。亡亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.107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)

luàn confusion, mess Traditional

Original meaning: untangle threads

Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".