佳宾 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jiā good, beautiful

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

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

佳 and 圭 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
佳 *[k]ˤre
圭 *[k]ʷˤe

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kea	[k]ˤre	good

說文解字

《說文》：“佳，善也。从人，圭聲。”

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)

bīn guest Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 兵 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賓.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

兵 Sound component

bīng soldier

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

滨鬓缤殡嫔槟摈膑髌镔

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

bīn guest Traditional

Depicts a guest walking (止) into a house (宀) with a gift (貝).

Components

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

止 Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

貝 Iconic component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 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

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

髕鬢擯殯檳濱繽嬪

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjin	pi[n]	guest

說文解字

《說文》：“賓，所敬也。从貝，聲。，古文。”

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)