Lú​sài'ēn

Lucerne

lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

Original meaning: stove

Simplified form of . Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as . The and components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

tiger
Change in sound
characterless component

Depicts a stove.

Deleted component
mǐn, mǐng dish

The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

sāi, sè stop up

Depicts two hands () stuffing various objects () into an enclosed space (). The (earth) component was added later.

Components

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
gōng work
Iconic component
gōng work
Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Meaning component
earth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsojH[s]ˤək-s frontier
sojH[s]ˤək-s pass (n.)
sok[s]ˤək stop up, block (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“塞,隔也。从土,从。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1189-1190
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

ēn kindness

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
Sound component
yīn cause

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'onʔˤə[n] kindness, favor

說文解字

《說文》:“恩,惠也。从心,因聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

rice vessel Traditional

Original meaning: stove

Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as . The and components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

Sound component
tiger
Change in sound
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a stove. Unrelated to .

Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "stove", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 12 verified)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangb·raː
Unicodelo

說文解字

《說文》:“盧,飲器也。从皿,聲。,籀文盧。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica