便器
biàn​qì

toilet

便 biàn, pián convenience

Original meaning: whip a person

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 𠓥 represents the sound. Originally written as 𠓥, which depicted a hand holding a whip with the 丙 component. Based on the original meaning "whip a person", now written as 鞭. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning
亻 hints at the original meaning of 便, "whip a person", which is no longer the most common meaning of 便 in modern Mandarin.
𠓥
𠓥 SoundMeaning component
biān whip

Modern form looks like unrelated 更.

Change in meaning
𠓥 hints at the original meaning of 便, "whip a person", which is no longer the most common meaning of 便 in modern Mandarin.
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠓥 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

鞭缏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjienH[b]e[n]-s comfortable; advantageous
bjien[b]e[n] glib-tongued

說文解字

《說文》：“便，安也。人有不便，更之。从人、更。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤 《字源》 p.711The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

器 qì receptacle

Origin unclear.

Components

㗊
㗊 Unknown component
jí, léi clamour, noise
犬
犬 Unknown component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhijH[kʰ]r[ə][t]-s vessel; instrument

說文解字

《說文》：“器，皿也。象器之口，犬所以守之。”

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)