凉拌面
liáng​bàn​miàn

cold noodles

凉 liáng cool Simplified

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 is a simplification of 氵 (water), based on the original meaning "light alcohol, dilute wine". 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 涼.

Components

冫
冫 MeaningSimplified component
bīng ice

氵 was simplified to 冫.

京
京 Sound component
jīng capital city
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫康熙字典
Readings & variants
Unicode

拌 bàn mix

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 半 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

半
半 Sound component
bàn half

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰaːn
baːnʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

面 miàn, mian face Simplified

Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye (目) in the middle. In simplified Chinese 面 is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 麵.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the outline of a face.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 (1 of 5 verified)

缅腼湎麵緬

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

湎靥靦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

圙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjienHC.me[n]-s face

說文解字

《說文》：“面，顏前也。从，象人面形。”

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)

涼 liáng cool Traditional

Original meaning: light alcohol, dilute wine

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

京
京 Sound component
jīng capital city
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljangC.raŋ cold

說文解字

《說文》：“涼，薄也。从水，京聲。”

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)

麵 flour, noodle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 麥 represents the meaning and 面 represents the sound.

Components

麥
麥 Meaning component
mài wheat
面
面 Sound component
miàn, mian face

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmeːns

Sources

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