勤奋
qín​fèn HSK5

hardworking

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)

奋 fèn strive, exert effort Simplified

Simplified form of 奮. Depicts a bird (隹) lifting off in a field (田), starting to fly.

Components

大
大 Simplified component
dà, dài big

Shorthand for the top part of the traditional character 奮.

田
田 Iconic component
tián field

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.291
Readings & variants
Unicode

奮 fèn strive, exert effort Traditional

Depicts a bird (隹) lifting off in a field (田), starting to fly.

Components

衣
衣 RemnantUnknown component
yī clothes

The purpose of this component is unclear.

隹
隹 Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
田
田 Iconic component
tián field

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjunH(Cə.)pə[r]-s (W dialect)spread wings and fly

說文解字

《說文》：“奮，翬也。从在田上。《詩》曰：‘不能奮飛。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.291
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)