丹青
dān​qīng

painting

丹 dān, dan cinnabar

Depicts a chunk of cinnabar found in a well for mining.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a chunk of cinnabar.

井
井 Iconic component
jǐng well

Depicts a well for mining.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 (2)

坍旃

Meaning (2)

彤旃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttantˤan cinnabar

說文解字

《說文》：“丹，巴越之赤石也。象采丹井，一象丹形。，古文丹。，亦古文丹。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.426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)

青 qīng green or blue

Components

生
生 Sound component
shēng, sheng life
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 生 than it was in ancient scripts.
井
井 Sound component
jǐng well
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 井 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 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 (10 of 25 verified)

情清请精静睛猜晴靖倩菁蜻氰靓婧請锖鲭腈靜箐鼱圊鯖靚

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

倩靛婧锖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsheng[s.r̥]ˤeŋ green or blue

說文解字

《說文》：“青，東方色也。木生火，从生丹，丹青之信言象然。，古文青。”

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)