yuán​mào

original appearance

yuán source

Depicts water coming from a spring () on a cliff ().

Components

Iconic component
chǎng cliff, (roof)
SoundIconic component
quán spring

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjwonN-ɢʷar spring, source; origin
ngjwonN-ɢʷar high plain (n.)

說文解字

《說文》:“,水泉本也。从灥出厂下。原,篆文从泉。”

Sources

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

mào appearance

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and a remnant of represents the sound.

Components

SoundRemnant component
bào leopard
SoundMeaning component
mào face, countenance

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaewHmˤrawk-s appearance, manner

說文解字

《說文》:“皃,頌儀也。从人,白象人面形。,皃或从頁,豹省聲。貌,籀文皃,从豹省。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.759-760
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica