住房和城乡建设部 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zhù reside

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

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

主 Sound component

zhǔ master

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	drjuH	dro(ʔ)-s	stop (v.)

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart

fáng house

Phonosemantic compound. 户 represents the meaning and 方 represents the sound.

Components

户 Meaning component

hù, hu door

方 Sound component

fāng, fang square

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bjang	[Cə-N-]paŋ	side-room

說文解字

《說文》：“房，室在旁也。从戶，方聲。”

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)

hé, huo, he harmony

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 禾 represents the sound.

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

禾 Sound component

hé grain stalk

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwa	[ɢ]ˤoj	harmonious
	hwaH	[ɢ]ˤoj-s	tune (instruments); respond in singing

說文解字

《說文》：“咊，相譍也。从口，禾聲。”

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)

chéng city

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 成 represents the sound.

Components

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

成 Sound component

chéng, cheng completed

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyeng	[d]eŋ	city wall

說文解字

《說文》：“城，以盛民也。从土，从成，成亦聲。，籀文城从。”

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)

xiāng hometown Simplified

Simplified form of 鄉. Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown". The right two components were removed for simplification.

Components

卩 Iconic component

jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing right.

Change in form

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

飠 Deleted component

eat

卩 Deleted component

jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing left.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

飨芗

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

芗

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

jiàn build

Depicts a hand setting up a wooden post (聿) at the corner of a building site (𠃊).

Components

聿 Iconic component

yù writing brush

Depicts a hand setting up a post.

𠃊 Iconic component

yǐn hidden area

Depicts the corner of a building site. Modern form looks like 廴.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

健键腱犍毽鍵踺楗

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjonH	[k]a[n]-s	set up, establish

說文解字

立朝律也。从聿从廴。

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.136
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shè build Simplified

Depicts the process of setting something up using speech (讠) and a tool (殳).

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

殳 Meaning component

shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand holding a tool.

Sources

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

bù part

Original meaning: place in Gansu province

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 咅 represents the sound.

Components

⻏ Meaning component

yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Change in meaning

⻏ hints at the original meaning of 部, "place in Gansu province", which is no longer the most common meaning of 部 in modern Mandarin.

咅 Sound component

pǒu to spit out

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	buwX	[b]ˤ(r)oʔ	lead (v.), govern

說文解字

天水狄部。从邑咅聲。

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)

xiāng hometown Traditional

Original meaning: feast, offer food

Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown".