五点钟 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wǔdiǎnzhōng

five o'clock

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)

diǎn dot Simplified

Simplified form of 點. Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

点 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
点 *tˤemʔ
占 *tem

灬 Meaning Simplified component

biāo, huǒ fire

Simplified from the 黑 (black) component in the traditional character 點.

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

zhōng cup Simplified

Simplified form of 鐘 and 鍾. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 中 represents the sound.

Components

钅 Meaning component

jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

中 Sound component

zhōng, zhòng central

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

diǎn dot Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

黑 Meaning component

hēi black

占 Sound component

zhàn divine

Change in sound

點 and 占 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
點 *tˤemʔ
占 *tem

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	temX	tˤemʔ	black spot

說文解字

《說文》：“點，小黑也。从黑，占聲。”

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)

zhōng clock Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 童 represents the sound.

Components

釒 Meaning component

jīn metal

童 Sound component

tóng child

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Qin 221-206 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyowng	toŋ	bell

說文解字

《說文》：“鐘，樂鐘也。秋分之音，物穜成。从金，童聲。古者垂作鐘。銿，鐘或从甬。”

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)