卡宴
Kǎ​yàn

Cayenne

卡 kǎ stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above (上) and something below (下). The uses of 卡 to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

上
上 Iconic component
shàng, shang up
下
下 Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

咔胩佧

Sources

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

宴 yàn to entertain

Original meaning: peace and happiness

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 妟 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "peace and happiness". The meaning later shifted to "banquet", "feast", and "to entertain".

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof

Represents being peaceful at home.

妟
妟 Sound component
yàn safe

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'enHʔˤe[n]-s feast (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“宴，安也。从宀，晏聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.657
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)