人多势众 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

rénduōshìzhòng

numerically powerful

rén, ren person

Pictograph of the side view of a standing person.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

队亮允佘仝

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyin	ni[ŋ]	(other) person

說文解字

《說文》：“人，天地之性最貴者也。此籀文，象臂脛之形。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.630
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

duō much

Depicts two pieces of meat together to convey the meaning "much" or "plentiful". In ancient China meat was a rare treat. Unrelated to 夕.

Components

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

Change in form

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

肉 Iconic component

ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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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Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

移爹侈哆黟眵

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ta	[t.l]ˤaj	many

說文解字

《說文》：“多，重也。从重夕。夕者，相繹也，故為多。重夕為多，重日為。，古文多。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.557
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shì, shi power Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 执 represents the sound. Simplified form of 勢.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

执 Sound component

zhí hold in hand

Sources

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

zhòng crowd, people Simplified

Triple of 人 (person). Depicts many people together. Simplified form of 眾.

Components

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

shì, shi power Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 埶 represents the sound.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

埶 Sound component

yì, shì art, skill

Change in sound

勢 and 埶 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
勢 *ŋ̊et-s
埶 *ŋ̊et-s

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syejH	ŋ̊et-s	circumstances, setting

說文解字

《說文新附》：“勢，盛力，權也。从力，埶聲。”

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)

zhòng crowd, people Traditional

Depicts a crowd of people (乑) standing under the sun (日).

Components

日 Iconic component

rì sun

Later reanalyzed as 目 (eye).

Change in form

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

乑 Iconic component

zhòng, yín, pān people standing side-by-side

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyuwngH	tuŋ-s	numerous

說文解字

《說文》：“眾，多也，从、目，眾意。”

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)