乱成一团 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

luàn confusion, mess Simplified

Original meaning: untangle threads

Simplified form of 亂. Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components

舌 Simplified component

shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

乚 Distinguishing component

yǐn, yà turning stroke

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.960漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

chéng, cheng completed

Original meaning: city

Depicts defending city walls (丁) with an axe (戌). 丁 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

戌 Iconic component

xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

丁 Sound Iconic component

dīng cubes

Depicts city walls.

Change in sound

成 and 丁 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
成 *[d]eŋ
丁 *tˤeŋ

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

城盛诚晟铖誠

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyeng	[d]eŋ	to become (v.i.)
	dzyeng	m-[d]eŋ	to complete (tr. v)

說文解字

《說文》：“成，就也。从戊，丁聲。，古文成从午。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.963-964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)

yī one

A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'jit	ʔi[t]	one

說文解字

《說文》：“一，惟初太始，道立於一，造分天地，化成萬物。弌，古文一。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

tuán ball Simplified

Simplified form of 團. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 專 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

才 Simplified component

cái, cai talent

Shorthand for the 專 component in the traditional character 團.

Sources

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

luàn confusion, mess Traditional

Original meaning: untangle threads

Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".