凶杀案
xiōng​shā'àn

murder case

凶 xiōng vicious, fierce Simplified

Pictograph of a trap in the ground.

Character Evolution

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 (2 of 4 verified)

匈汹垴兇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

酗

Iconic (1)

兇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjowngqʰ(r)oŋ unlucky

說文解字

《說文》：“凶，惡也。象地穿交陷其中也。”

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)

杀 shā kill Simplified

Simplified form of 殺. Depicts a person being decapitated.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

刹脎剎

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

铩弑弒

Iconic (1)

殺

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.231-232
Readings & variants
Unicode

案 àn table, case, incident

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 安 represents the sound.

Components

安
安 Sound component
ān peaceful
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'anHʔˤa[n]-s stool; tray

說文解字

《說文》：“案，几屬。从木，安聲。”

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)

兇 xiōng terrible, fearful Traditional

Depicts a person (卩) under a trap (凶).

Components

凶
凶 SoundIconic component
xiōng vicious, fierce

Depicts a trap.

卩
卩 Meaning component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person under a trap.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰoŋ
qʰoŋʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“兇，擾恐也，从人在凶下。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

殺 shā kill Traditional

Depicts a person being decapitated (杀) with a weapon (殳).

Components

杀
杀 Iconic component
shā kill

Depicts a person being decapitated.

殳
殳 Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

鎩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsreats<r>at kill
sreajHs<r>at-s diminish

說文解字

《說文》：“殺，戮也。从殳，杀聲。，古文殺；，古文殺；，古文殺。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.231-232
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)