台钟 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

táizhōng

desk clock

tái platform Simplified

Originally 台 and 㠯 were pronounced the same and thus written the same. Later 口 was added to distinguish the characters.

Components

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

㠯 Sound Remnant component

yǐ by means of

㠯 is an ancient variant of 以.

Change in sound

台 and 㠯 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
台 *lə
㠯 *ləʔ

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

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Component uses

Sound (5 of 24 verified)

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yi	lə	I, me

說文解字

《說文》：“台，說也。从口，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)

zhōng cup Simplified

Simplified form of 鐘 and 鍾. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 中 represents the sound.

Components

钅 Meaning component

jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

中 Sound component

zhōng, zhòng central

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

table, desk, counter Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 臺 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

臺 Sound component

tower, platform

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	dɯː

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang

zhōng clock Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 童 represents the sound.

Components

釒 Meaning component

jīn metal

童 Sound component

tóng child

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Qin 221-206 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

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyowng	toŋ	bell

說文解字

《說文》：“鐘，樂鐘也。秋分之音，物穜成。从金，童聲。古者垂作鐘。銿，鐘或从甬。”

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)