公审
gōng​shěn

public trial

公 gōng public

Original meaning: earthen jar

Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

Components

八
八 Iconic component
bā eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

容松讼翁颂瓮蚣衮忪袞頌訟鈆彸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwngC.qˤoŋ impartial, just; public
kuwngC.qˤoŋ father; prince

說文解字

《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

审 shěn examine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 申 represents the sound. Simplified form of 審.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
申
申 Sound component
shēn to extend

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

婶渖

Sources

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

審 shěn examine Traditional

Origin unclear.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
釆
釆 Meaning component
biàn, biǎn distinguish
口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 口 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

瀋嬸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyimXs.tʰ[ə]mʔ examine, discriminate

說文解字

《說文》：“宷，悉也，知宷諦也。从宀，从釆。審，篆文宷从番。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.68
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)