剑走偏锋
jiàn​zǒu​piān​fēng

side stroke

剑 jiàn sword Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 劍.

Components

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Sources

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

走 zǒu walk

Originally written as 夭, depicting a person swaying their arms (夭) while walking quickly. The foot component 止 was added later.

Components

夭
夭 Iconic component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Depicts a person walking quickly.

止
止 Meaning component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (8 of 20 verified)

起越超赶趣趋赴趁趟赳趄趔趑趱趨趕趦趙趯赸

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

陡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsuwX[ts]ˤoʔ run

說文解字

《說文》：“走，趨也。从夭、止，夭止者，屈也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.108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)

偏 piān inclined one side

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 扁 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

扁
扁 Sound component
biǎn flat

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartphjienpʰe[n]oblique; subordinate
Zhengzhangpʰen
pʰens
Unicodepiɛn

說文解字

頗也。从人扁聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

锋 fēng point of spear Simplified

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

夆
夆 Sound component
féng, páng resist

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

劍 jiàn sword Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

僉
僉 Sound component
together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaemHs.kr[a]m-s sword

說文解字

《說文》：“劒，人所帶兵也。从刃，僉聲。劍，籀文劒从刀。”

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)

鋒 fēng point of spear Traditional

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

夆
夆 Sound component
féng, páng resist

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphjowngpʰ(r)oŋpoint of a weapon
Zhengzhangpʰoŋ
Unicodepiong

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica