lìng​yǎn​xiāng​kàn

favor

lìng (bones), another

Original meaning: bones

Variant of . Pictograph of bones. Based on the original meaning "bones". The meaning later shifted to "separate", "other" and "another".

Component uses

Iconic (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːŋs

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
eye
Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngonXŋˤə[n]ʔ protrude as a knob
ngeanX[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ eye

說文解字

《說文》:“眼,目也。从目,聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiāng, xiàng mutual

Original meaning: look at

Depicts an eye () looking at a tree (). Based on the original meaning "look at". The meaning of this character has shifted over time to "compare" and "each other".

Components

Iconic component
tree
Iconic component
eye

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjang[s]aŋ mutually
sjangH[s]aŋ-s appearance, quality

說文解字

《說文》:“相,省視也。从目,从木。《易》曰:‘地可觀者莫可觀於木。’《詩》曰:‘相鼠有皮。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.267漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

kàn, kān look

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
eye

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhankʰˤa[r] to watch, guard
khanH[kʰ]ˤa[r]-s gaze at

說文解字

《說文》:“看,睎也。从手下目。,看或从倝。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.268-269
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica