yìn​shuā​pǐn

printed matter

yìn print

Original meaning: restrain

Pictograph of a kneeling person () being held down by a hand (). Based on the original meaning "restrain", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "push down", "stamp", and "print".

Components

Iconic component
zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw
Iconic component
jié person kneeling

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jinH[ʔ]iŋ-s seal

說文解字

執政所持信也。从爪从卪。凡印之屬皆从印。

Sources

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

shuā brush

Depicts a person squatting () and holding a utensil ( ) attached to a cloth () to scrub or clean something.

Components

Iconic component
shī sitting person

Depicts a person squatting.

Iconic component
jīn cloth
Iconic component
dāo knife

Used here to depict a utensil held in the hand. The variant character used the (hand) component instad.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrjwet[s]r[o]t (dialect: retains MC srj-)brush (v.)
srwaet[s]r[o]t brush (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“刷,刮也。从刀,省聲。《禮》:‘布刷巾。’”

Sources

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

pǐn product

Triple of . Depicts several types of things together.

Components

Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (6)

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Simplified (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartphimXpʰr[ə]mʔ kind, class

說文解字

《說文》:“品,眾庶也。从三口。”

Sources

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