中央全会
zhōng​yāng​quán​huì

plenary session

中 zhōng, zhòng central

Depicts a flagpole. There is a circle in the middle marking the center of the flagpole. In older forms of the character, the flagpole has streamers at the top and bottom used to show the direction of the wind.

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
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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

种冲钟忠仲肿衷忡盅舯沖

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

仲衷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjuwngtruŋ center
trjuwngHtruŋ-s hit the center

說文解字

《說文》：“中，內也。从口、丨，上下通。，古文中。，籀文中。”

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)

央 yāng beg

Pictograph of a person (大) with a cangue (torture device for punishing criminals) around his neck. People wearing such devices were not able to reach their mouth with their own hands, and were forced to beg for food.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a cangue (torture device for punishing criminals worn around the neck).

大
大 Iconic component
dà, dài big

Here used as a pictograph of a person


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 10 verified)

英映盎鞅秧殃鸯怏泱鴦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jangʔaŋ end (v.)
'jangʔaŋ center (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“央，中央也。从大在冂之內。大，人也。央、旁同意。一曰久也。”

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)

全 quán entire

Original meaning: pure jade

Depicts jade (玉) that is entirely pure and flawless. Based on the original meaning "pure jade". The meaning later shifted to "complete" and "entire".

Components

◎
◎ Unknown component
characterless component

The purpose of this component is unclear.

王
王 Unknown component
wáng king

Character Evolution

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
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 (0 of 10 verified)

栓拴痊诠荃铨筌詮辁銓

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

痊辁

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjwen[dz]o[n] complete (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，完也。从入，从工。全，篆文从玉。純玉曰全。，古文仝。”

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)

会 huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Simplified form of 會. Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合
合 MeaningSimplified component
hé to join
𡆧
𡆧 SoundSimplified component
guó ironware
Change in sound

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

绘刽荟桧烩脍狯哙浍鲙郐𬭇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

侩

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants
Unicode

會 huì, kuài to gather Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合
合 Meaning component
hé to join
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 合 than it was in ancient scripts.
𡆧
𡆧 Sound component
guó ironware
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

劊癐噲膾廥檜燴繪𨭗薈鱠

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

儈廥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwajHm-kˤop-s meeting; have a meeting
hwajHɦʷˤajs (< *m-kˤop-s)阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara ‘shining’ (E. Hàn)
kwajHkˤop-s calculate; calculation

說文解字

《說文》：“會，合也。从亼，从曾省。曾，益也。令，古文會如此。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)