古龙
Gǔ Lóng

Gu Long

古 gǔ old

Original meaning: firm, solid

Depicts a shield. Based on the original meaning "firm, solid", which is now written as 固. The current meaning "old" is a phonetic loan.

Components

盾
盾 Iconic component
dùn shield

Depicts a shield.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 盾 than it was in ancient scripts.
口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

The 口 component is sometimes used to indicate an abstract meaning taken from a concrete object. Here, the concrete object "shield" evokes the abstract meaning "firm, solid".

Character Evolution

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
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
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

Sound (7 of 27 verified)

故苦居胡固姑估枯咕辜沽骷轱钴祜鸪蛄诂牯嘏怙岵罟酤鴣軲鈷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuXkˤaʔ ancient

說文解字

《說文》：“古，故也。从十口。識前言者也。，古文古。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.154
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

龙 lóng dragon Simplified

Pictograph of a dragon curled up. The simplified character 龙 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 龍.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 16 verified)

庞笼垄拢宠胧聋咙陇珑茏泷垅砻眬栊

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

龚珑龛

Sources

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

龍 lóng dragon Traditional

Pictograph of a dragon curled up.

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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

籠聾攏瀧瓏隴龐朧矓蘢壟嚨寵

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

龔瓏龕

Iconic (1)

龖

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

𪚥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljowng[mə]-roŋ dragon
maewngmˤroŋ variegated

說文解字

《說文》：“龍，鱗蟲之長。能幽能明，能細能巨，能短能長，春分而登天，秋分而潛淵。从肉，飛之形，童省聲。”

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)