受电弓 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shòudiàngōng

pantograph

shòu receive

Depicts a boat (舟) being passed from one hand (爫) to another hand (又). 舟 also served as phonetic, but it was later abbreviated.

Components

爫 Iconic component

zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪.

舟 Sound Iconic component

zhōu boat

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 舟 than it was in ancient scripts.

又 Iconic component

yòu hand

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyuwX	[d]uʔ	receive

說文解字

《說文》：“受，相付也。从，舟省聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.189
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

diàn electricity Simplified

Original meaning: lightning

Simplified form of 電, which depicts lightning (申) during a rainstorm (雨). The 雨 component was deleted for simplification.

Components

雨 Deleted component

yǔ rain

申 Sound Iconic component

shēn to extend

Depicts lightning.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.981-982
Readings & variants: Unicode

gōng bow

Pictograph of a bow for shooting arrows.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (12 of 21 verified)

强张弹弯弥弦彦弧弛弩彌弳彊弪弮彈彆彎張強彥 show all 21 show fewer

Iconic (5)

引射隽雋發

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjuwng	kʷəŋ	bow (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“弓，以近窮遠。象形。”

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)

diàn electricity Traditional

Original meaning: lightning

Depicts lightning (申) during a rainstorm (雨).

Components

雨 Meaning component

yǔ rain

申 Sound Iconic component

shēn to extend

Depicts lightning.

Change in sound

電 and 申 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
電 *lˤi[n]-s
申 *l̥i[n]

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	denH	lˤi[n]-s	lightning

說文解字

《說文》：“電，陰陽激燿也。从雨，从申。，古文電。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.981-982
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)