biàn​qiān

note

便 biàn, pián convenience

Original meaning: whip a person

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

Components

Meaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

Change in meaning
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 .

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)

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

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qiān sign Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
qiān together

Sources

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

qiān sign Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
together

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangskʰlam

Sources

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