biàn​lǎn

handbook

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

lǎn look at Simplified

Components

Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

see

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lǎn look at Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see
SoundMeaning component
jiān watch carefully

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raːmʔ
Unicodelɑ̌m

說文解字

《說文》:“覽,觀也。从見、監,監亦聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica