Original meaning: climb
Pictograph of a hand (又) climbing a cliff (厂). Based on original meaning "climb", now written as 扳. The meaning later shifted to "pull" and "reverse".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | baenX | [b]ˤranʔ | dignified, grand |
| pjonX | Cə.panʔ | reverse (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“反，覆也。从又、厂。反形。，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.206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)
Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye (目) in the middle. In simplified Chinese 面 is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 麵.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjienH | C.me[n]-s | face |
說文解字
《說文》：“面，顏前也。从，象人面形。”
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)
Simplified
Character Evolution
Component uses
說文解字
《說文》：“儿，仁人也。古文奇字人也。象形。孔子曰：在人下，故詰屈。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Pictograph of a child (人) with an opening in the top of its head (囟). Represents the soft spot (fontanel) at the top of young infant heads. The 囟 component is written like 臼.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nye | ŋe | child |
說文解字
《說文》：“兒，孺子也。从儿，象小兒頭囟未合。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.687
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)