伟岸
wěi'àn

outstanding

伟 wěi great Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 韦 represents the sound. Simplified form of 偉.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

韦
韦 Sound component
wéi, huí tanned leather

Sources

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

岸 àn shore, bank

Phonosemantic compound. 屵 represents the meaning and 干 represents the sound.

Components

屵
屵 Meaning component
yǎn, è tall mountain
干
干 Sound component
gàn, gān interfere

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

炭

Remnant (1)

炭

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnganH[ŋ]ˤa[r]-s bank of a river

說文解字

《說文》：“岸，水厓而高者。从屵，干聲。”

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)

偉 wěi great Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 韋 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

韋
韋 Sound component
(surround a city), tanned leather

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɢʷɯlʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“偉，奇也。从人，韋聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)