卢布尔雅那
Lú​bù'ěr​yǎ​nà

Ljubljana

卢 lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

Original meaning: stove

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

Components

虍
虍 SoundSimplified component
hū tiger
Change in sound
◎
◎ IconicSimplified component
characterless component

Depicts a stove.

盧
皿 Deleted component
mǐn, mǐng dish

The traditional component 皿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

颅鲈鸬胪泸舻轳栌垆

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

垆

Sources

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

布 bù cotton cloth

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 父 represents the sound.

Components

父
父 Sound component
fù father
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 父 than it was in ancient scripts.
巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth

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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 of 4 verified)

怖钸鈽佈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuHpˤa-s cloth
puHpˤa-s cloth

說文解字

《說文》：“布，枲織也。从巾，父聲。”

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)

尔 ěr you Simplified

Simplified form of 爾. Pictograph of a weapon with a sharp head and tail decorations on the end. Similar in origin to 朿. Original meaning unclear.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

你弥玺迩祢

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

你妳袮

Simplified (1)

称

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyeXn[ə][r]ʔ you(r)

說文解字

《說文》：“尒，詞之必然也。从入、丨、八，八象气之分散。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.259董蓮池《說文解字考正》p.129
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

雅 yǎ, yā, yá elegant

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 牙 represents the sound.

Components

隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
牙
牙 Sound component
yá tooth

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngæXN-ɢˤraʔproper, refined
ngæX[N-ɢ]ˤraʔkind of musical instrument
Zhengzhangŋraːʔ
Unicodengǎ

說文解字

楚烏也。一名鸒，一名卑居。秦謂之雅。从隹牙聲。

Sources

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

那 nà that

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 冄 represents the sound.

Components

冄
冄 Sound component
rǎn drooping

冄 is a component form of 冉.

Change in sound
⻏
⻏ Meaning component
yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

哪娜挪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnanˤar ample

Sources

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

盧 rice vessel Traditional

Original meaning: stove

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

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
Change in sound
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a stove. Unrelated to 田.

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
Change in meaning
皿 hints at the original meaning of 盧, "stove", which is no longer the most common meaning of 盧 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)

顱膚蘆驢臚鑪鸕瀘廬鱸爐轤

Remnant (1)

膚

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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

爾 ěr you Traditional

Pictograph of a weapon with a sharp head and tail decorations on the end. Similar in origin to 朿. Original meaning unclear.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

邇禰璽彌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnejXnˤ[ə][r]ʔ numerous
nyeXn[ə][r]ʔ (adv. suffix)
nyeXn[ə][r]ʔ you(r)

說文解字

《說文》：“爾，麗爾，猶靡麗也。从冂，从，其孔；尒聲。此與爽同意。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.259董蓮池《說文解字考正》p.129
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)