勇敢
yǒng​gǎn HSK4

brave

勇 yǒng brave

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 甬 represents the sound.

Components

甬
甬 Sound component
yǒng, tǒng, dòng path
力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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 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 (0 of 1 verified)

踴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyowngXloŋʔ brave

說文解字

《說文》：“勇，气也。从力，甬聲。，勇或从戈、用。恿，古文勇从心。”

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)

敢 gǎn to dare

Original meaning: to hunt; to pursue

Depicts a hand holding a hunting weapon (攵) catching a wild boar (豕). 甘 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to hunt; to pursue". The meaning later shifted to "brave" and "to dare".

Components

豕
豕 Iconic component
shǐ pig

Depicts a wild boar.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 豕 than it was in ancient scripts.
甘
甘 Sound component
gān sweetness
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 甘 than it was in ancient scripts.
攵
攵 Iconic component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴. Depicts a hand holding a hunting weapon.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

橄憨瞰阚澉闞撖嚴

Deleted (1)

严

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkamX[k]ˤamʔ dare

Sources

Character origin
zi.tools季旭昇《說文新證》p.331-332中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica