变徵之声 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

biàn change Simplified

Simplified form of 變. Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

luán tie together

Change in sound

变 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 夂 component in the traditional character 變. 夂 is a component form of 止.

Sources

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

zhēng, zhǐ, chéng invade

Original meaning: to punish

Originally written as 𱖔, which depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back. The components 彳 (walk) and 攵 (tap) were added later to indicate movement and action. Based on the original meaning "to punish". The meaning later shifted to "invade", "to summon" and "to recruit" while its other meaning used as a musical note is a phonetic loan.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行. Here used to indicate movement.

𱖔 Iconic component

to punish

Depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back.

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴. Used here to indicate action.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

懲癥

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tring	trəŋ	examine

說文解字

《說文》：“徵，召也。从微省，壬為徵，行於微而文達者即徵之。，古文徵。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫 The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zhī [attributive particle]

Original meaning: go forwards

Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

止 Sound Iconic component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form

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

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict an area.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

志寺芝

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyi	tə	go to
	tsyi	tə	(3p object pronoun; attributive particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“之，出也。象艸過屮，枝莖益大有所之。一者，地也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.498-499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)

shēng, sheng sound Simplified

Remnant of the character 殸 (stone chimes). Depicts a musical stone chime hung up on a rope. Simplified form of 聲.

Components

糸 Iconic component

mì, sī silk

Depicts a rope. Modern form looks like unrelated 士.

Change in form

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

石 Iconic component

shí stone

Change in form

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

Component uses

Iconic (2)

磬殸

Sources

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

biàn change Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌 Sound component

luán tie together

Change in sound

變 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
變 *pro[n]-s
䜌 *mə.rˤo[n]

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjenH	pro[n]-s	change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“變，更也。从攴，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)

shēng, sheng sound Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 殸 represents the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

殸 Sound component

qìng, kēng, shēng stone chimes

Change in sound

聲 and 殸 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
聲 syeng
殸 khengH

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syeng	[l̥]eŋ	sound (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“聲，音也。从耳，殸聲。殸，籀文磬。”

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)

变 biàn change Simplified

Components

Sources

徵 zhēng, zhǐ, chéng invade

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

之 zhī [attributive particle]

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

声 shēng, sheng sound Simplified

Components

Component uses

Iconic (2)

Sources

變 biàn change Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

聲 shēng, sheng sound Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

biàn change Simplified

zhēng, zhǐ, chéng invade

zhī [attributive particle]

shēng, sheng sound Simplified

biàn change Traditional

shēng, sheng sound Traditional