乘务员 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

chéngwùyuán

attendant

chéng ride

Depicts a person (大) who has used their legs (舛) to climb up a tree (木).

Components

大 Iconic component

dà, dài big

Change in form

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

舛 Iconic component

chuǎn oppose

Change in form

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

木 Iconic component

mù tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Qin 221-206 BC

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zying	Cə.ləŋ	ride (v.)
	zyingH	Cə.ləŋ-s	vehicle
	zyingH	Cə.ləŋ-s	team of four horses

說文解字

《說文》：“乘，覆也。从入、桀。桀，黠也。軍法曰乘。，古文乘从几。”

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)

wu, wù business Simplified

Simplified form of 務. Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning. The traditional component 矛 was removed for simplification.

Components

矛 Deleted component

máo spear

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

yuán member Simplified

Simplified form of 員. Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

贝 Iconic Remnant component

bèi sea shell

Change in form

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

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

损圆勋陨殒郧埙筼

Sources

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

wu, wù business Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning.

Components

矛 Sound component

máo spear

Change in sound

務 and 矛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
務 mjuH
矛 mjuw

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjuH	m(r)o-s	exert oneself

說文解字

趣也。从力敄聲。

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)

yuán member Traditional

Original meaning: round

Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Change in form

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

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

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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 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 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

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

韻損勛篔殞隕鄖圓

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwen	ɢʷ<r>en	circle; round
	hjun	[ɢ]ʷə[n]	(a particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“員，物數也。从貝，口聲。鼎，籀文从鼎。”

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)