中途岛战役
Zhōng​tú Dǎo Zhàn​yì

Battle of Midway

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)

途 tú way, journey

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 余 represents the sound.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

余
余 Sound component
yú I
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdulˤa road

Sources

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

岛 dǎo island Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 山 represents the meaning and 鸟 represents the sound. Simplified form of 島.

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
鸟
鸟 Sound component
niǎo bird

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

捣

Sources

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

战 zhàn war Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound. Simplified form of 戰.

Components

占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

役 yì service

Original meaning: to command

Originally written as 伇, which depicts a person (亻) being controlled by a weapon (殳). Based on the original meaning "to command". The meaning later shifted to "servant" and "service".

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

Depicts a person. Modern form looks like unrelated 彳.

殳
殳 Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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)

疫

Remnant (1)

疫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartywekɢʷek war expedition; service

說文解字

《說文》：“役，戍邊也。从殳，从彳。，古文役从人。”

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)

島 dǎo island Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 山 represents the meaning and 鳥 represents the sound.

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
鳥
鳥 Sound component
niǎo bird

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

搗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttawXtˤuʔ island

說文解字

《說文》：“，海中往往有山可依止曰。”

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)

戰 zhàn war Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 單 represents the sound.

Components

單
單 Sound component
dān single
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Qin 221-206 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyenHtar-s to fear
tsyenHtar-s battle

說文解字

《說文》：“戰，鬭也。从戈，單聲。”

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)