五权宪法 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wǔquánxiànfǎ

Five-power Constitution

wǔ five

Origin unclear. Originally an X-shape.

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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 Jin 266-420 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nguX	C.ŋˤaʔ	five

說文解字

《說文》：“五，五行也。从二。陰陽在天地間交午也。，古文五省。”

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)

quán power Simplified

Simplified form of 權. Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 雚 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 雚 component in the traditional character 權.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Sources

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

xiàn constitution Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 先 represents the sound. Simplified form of 憲.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

先 Sound component

xiān first

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Sources

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

fǎ, fa law

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Originally written as 灋.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

Likely alludes to water always flowing in a given path, or water always being flat and level.

去 Sound component

qù go away

Change in sound

法 and 去 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
法 *[p.k]ap
去 *[kʰ](r)aʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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 Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 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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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjop	[p.k]ap	model, law

說文解字

《說文》：“灋，刑也。平之如水，从水；廌，所以觸不直者，去之，从去。法，今文省。佱，古文。”

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)

quán power, right Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 雚 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

雚 Sound component

guàn, huán heron

Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	gjwen	[g]ʷrar	weight of a steelyard

說文解字

《說文》：“權，黃華木。从木，雚聲。一曰反常。”

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)

xiàn constitution Traditional

Depicts a spearhead (害) poking an eye (目). 心 was added later to represent the meaning.

Components

害 Iconic Remnant component

hài, hai injure

Depicts a spearhead.

目 Iconic component

mù eye

Depicts an eye.

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xjonH	qʰar (~ *qʰar-s)	law; model; rule

說文解字

《說文》：“憲，敏也。从心，从目，害省聲。”

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)