zhōng​jiān​pài

moderates

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)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

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

jiān, jian, jiàn space Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts sunlight () shining through the gap in a door ().

Components

Iconic component
mén, men door
Iconic component
sun

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

pài school of thought, faction

Depicts the water () in a river flowing into different branches (𠂢). The meaning later expanded to "faction", "school of thought", and "style".

Components

Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

𠂢
𠂢 SoundIconic component
pài river branching

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangm̥ʰreːɡs
Unicodepɛ̀i

說文解字

《說文》:“派,別水也。从水,从,亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

jiān, jian, jiàn space Traditional

Depicts sunlight () shining through the gap in a door ().

Components

Iconic component
mén, men door
Iconic component
sun

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkeankˤre[n] interval
keankˤre[n] 間關 sound of a chariot's linchpin (Ode 218.1)
heanN-kˤre[n] idle

Sources

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