伴娘
bàn​niáng

bridesmaid

伴 bàn companion

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

半
半 Sound component
bàn half

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbanX[C.b]ˤanʔ comrade

說文解字

《說文》：“伴，大皃。从人，半聲。”

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)

娘 niang, niáng mother

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 良 represents the sound. Simplified form of 孃.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
良
良 Sound component
liáng good

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangnaŋ
Unicodeniɑng

Sources

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