express Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
yòu again
Sound component
I

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

yán speech

Pictograph of a tongue () sticking out of a mouth. In old scripts was written the same as but with an extra line.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts movement of the tongue coming out of the mouth.

Iconic component
shé tongue
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

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 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjonŋa[n] (a particle)
ngjonŋa[n] I, we
ngjonŋa[n] speak; speech
ngjonŋa[r] tall

說文解字

《說文》:“言,直言曰言,論難曰語。从口,聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.160
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

express Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tap

is a component form of .

Sound component
I

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzjoXs-m-taʔorder (v.)
Zhengzhangljaʔ

說文解字

次弟也。从攴余聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica