候选
hòu​xuǎn

candidate

候 hou, hòu wait

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

矦
矦 Sound component
hóu target (archery)
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 矦 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthuwH[g]ˤ(r)o-s wait upon

說文解字

《說文》：“，伺望也。从人，矦聲。”

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)

选 xuǎn choose Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 先 represents the sound. Simplified form of 選.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

先
先 Sound component
xiān first

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

選 xuǎn choose Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 巽 represents the sound.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

巽
巽 Sound component
xùn, zhuàn obedient

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjwenX[s]o[n]ʔ choose; count
sjwenX[s]o[r]ʔ count (v.)
sjwenH[s]o[n]ʔ-s even, orderly

說文解字

遣也。从辵、巽，巽遣之；巽亦聲。一曰選，擇也。

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)