勤俭
qín​jiǎn

industrious and frugal

勤 qín industrious

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 堇 represents the sound. Simplified form of 懃.

Components

力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power
堇
堇 Sound component
jǐn, qín, jìn clay

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjɨn[ɡ]ərtoil, diligent, devoted
Zhengzhangɡɯn
Unicodeghiən

說文解字

勞也。从力𡏳聲。

Sources

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

俭 jiǎn temperate Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 儉.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

儉 jiǎn temperate Traditional

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

僉
僉 Sound component
together

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgjemX[ɡ]r[a]mʔrestrict, frugal
Zhengzhangɡramʔ
Unicodeghyɛ̌m

說文解字

約也。从人僉聲。

Sources

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