免责声明 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

miǎn (hat), avoid

Original meaning: hat

Pictograph of a person wearing a hat or a crown, now written as 冕. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

晚勉挽冕娩谗鞔浼輓絻𠓥

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

搀

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjenX	mr[o][r]ʔ	avoid

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.640-641林志強《《文源》評注》p.410
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica

zé responsibility Simplified

Original meaning: taxation

Simplified form of 責. Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "taxation". The meaning later shifted to "responsibility".

Components

朿 Sound component

cì thorn, stab

Change in form

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

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning

貝 hints at the original meaning of 责, "taxation", which is no longer the most common meaning of 责 in modern Mandarin.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

债绩啧渍碛赜帻箦

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

债

Sources

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

shēng, sheng sound Simplified

Remnant of the character 殸 (stone chimes). Depicts a musical stone chime hung up on a rope. Simplified form of 聲.

Components

糸 Iconic component

mì, sī silk

Depicts a rope. Modern form looks like unrelated 士.

Change in form

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

石 Iconic component

shí stone

Change in form

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

Component uses

Iconic (2)

磬殸

Sources

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

míng, ming bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight (月) shining through a window (囧). The 囧 component was later reanalyzed as 日 (sun).

Components

囧 Sound Iconic component

jiǒng bright window

The modern form looks similar to 日 (sun).

Change in sound

明 and 囧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
明 *mraŋ
囧 *k-mraŋʔ (dialect: *k.mr- > *kʷr-)

Change in form

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

月 Iconic component

yuè, yue moon

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

盟萌

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjaeng	mraŋ	bright

說文解字

《說文》：“朙，照也。从月，从囧。明，古文朙，从日。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.551-552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)

zé responsibility Traditional

Original meaning: taxation

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "taxation". The meaning later shifted to "responsibility".

Components

朿 Sound component

cì thorn, stab

Change in form

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

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Change in meaning

貝 hints at the original meaning of 責, "taxation", which is no longer the most common meaning of 責 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

積蹟績嘖債漬

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

債

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsreak	s-tˤrek	demand payment
	tsreak	s-tˤrek	blame
	tsreaH	s-tˤrek-s	debt

說文解字

《說文》：“責，求也。从貝，朿聲。”

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)

shēng, sheng sound Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 殸 represents the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

殸 Sound component

qìng, kēng, shēng stone chimes

Change in sound

聲 and 殸 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
聲 syeng
殸 khengH

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syeng	[l̥]eŋ	sound (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“聲，音也。从耳，殸聲。殸，籀文磬。”

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)

免 miǎn (hat), avoid

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

责 zé responsibility Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

声 shēng, sheng sound Simplified

Components

Component uses

Iconic (2)

Sources

明 míng, ming bright

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

責 zé responsibility Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

聲 shēng, sheng sound Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

miǎn (hat), avoid

zé responsibility Simplified

shēng, sheng sound Simplified

míng, ming bright

zé responsibility Traditional

shēng, sheng sound Traditional