千金难买
qiān​jīn​nán​mǎi

priceless

千 qiān thousand

Phonosemantic compound. 一 represents the meaning and 亻 represents the sound.

Components

一
一 Meaning component
yī one
亻
亻 Sound component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
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 (1 of 10 verified)

迁歼纤忏阡仟芊扦钎釺

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

歼芊钎釺

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshens.n̥ˤi[ŋ] thousand

說文解字

《說文》：“千，十百也。从十，从人。”

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)

金 jīn metal

Phonosemantic compound. 王 and 吕 represent the meaning and 今 represents the sound. 王 depicts a metal axe and 吕 depicts two metal plates.

Components

今
今 SoundRemnant component
jīn now

Remnant from the top part of 今.

王
王 Iconic component
wáng king

Depicts a metal axe.

吕
吕 Iconic component
lǚ pitchpipe

Depicts two metal plates.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 19 verified)

鉴釜鑫銮鋈鍪鏖錾鎏鏊鐾銎蓥鑾銜鑿鑒鎣劉

Deleted (2)

录凿

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

淦唫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkimk(r)[ə]m metal, bronze

說文解字

《說文》：“金，五色金也。黄為之長，久薶不生衣，百鍊不輕，从革不違。西方之行，生於土，从土，左右注象金在土中形，今聲。，古文金。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.925
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

难 nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

买 mǎi buy Simplified

Pictograph of money (貝) coming out of a netted bag (网). The simplified character 买 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 買.

Components

网
网 IconicSimplified component
wǎng net
头
头 Simplified component
tóu, tou head

Shorthand for the 貝 component in the traditional character 買. Shells were used as currency in ancient China.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

卖荬

Meaning (1)

卖

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

難 nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𦰩
𦰩 Sound component
jiān to sigh
Change in sound
隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

攤儺癱灘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnannˤar difficult
nanHnˤar-s difficulty

說文解字

《說文》：“，鳥也。从鳥，堇聲。難，或从隹。”

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)

買 mǎi buy Traditional

Pictograph of money (貝) coming out of a netted bag (网).

Components

网
网 Iconic component
wǎng net
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 网 than it was in ancient scripts.
貝
貝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

Shells were used as currency in ancient China.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

賣蕒

Meaning (1)

賣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeaXmˤrajʔ buy

說文解字

《說文》：“買，市也。从网、貝。《孟子》曰：‘登壟斷而网市利。’”

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)