to join

Depicts two mouths talking to each other.

Components

Iconic component
(upside-down mouth), to assemble
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 22 verified)

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

Simplified (2)

Iconic (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkopkˤop together; put together; combined
hopm-kˤop come together; bring together

說文解字

《說文》:“合,合口也。从亼,从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.438
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhé, chè wagon ruts Simplified

Something left  by a cart  when it moves 

Components

Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
chè penetrate, thorough

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

r, ér child Simplified

Simplified form of . Variant form of , a pictograph of a human.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

說文解字

《說文》:“儿,仁人也。古文奇字人也。象形。孔子曰:在人下,故詰屈。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

wagon ruts Traditional

Components

Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle

cart

SoundRemnant component
chè penetrate, thorough

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdrjet[d]ret wheel-track

說文解字

《說文新附》:“轍,車迹也。从車,徹省聲。本通用徹,後人所加。”

Sources

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

r, ér son Traditional

Pictograph of a child () with an opening in the top of its head (). Represents the soft spot (fontanel) at the top of young infant heads. The component is written like .

Components

Iconic component
xìn fontanel

Depicts the gap between the bones in an infant skull.

Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a human.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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 (0 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyeŋe child

說文解字

《說文》:“兒,孺子也。从儿,象小兒頭囟未合。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.687
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica