减免
jiǎn​miǎn HSK7

reduce or waive

减 jiǎn decrease Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound. Simplified form of 減.

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

冫 is a component form of 冰.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Sources

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

免 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

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 (3 of 11 verified)

晚勉挽冕娩谗鞔浼輓絻𠓥

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

搀

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjenXmr[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

減 jiǎn decrease Traditional

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartheamXm-kˤr[ə]mʔ abridge
keamXkˤr[ə]mʔ reduce

說文解字

《說文》：“減，損也。从水，咸聲。”

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)