同床异梦
tóng​chuáng​yì​mèng

divergent agendas

同 tóng, tong, tòng together

Depicts a large object (凡) like a shoulder carriage that requires the cooperation of multiple people working together to carry.

Components

凡
凡 Iconic component
fán all

Depicts a large object like a shoulder carriage.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Alludes to people speaking together to communicate.

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 14 verified)

洞铜筒桐酮恫侗峒胴硐茼衕垌銅

Iconic (2)

兴興

Simplified (1)

兴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwnglˤoŋ together, join

說文解字

《說文》：“同，合會也。从，从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.614
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

床 chuáng bed

Depicts a bed (爿) made from wood (木). Originally written as 爿 or 牀.

Components

爿
爿 SoundIconic component
pán, qiáng piece of wood

Depicts a bed.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爿 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzrjangk.dzraŋbed
Zhengzhangzraŋ
Unicodejrhiɑng

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.489-490漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

异 yì different Simplified

Original meaning: carry on the head

Phonosemantic compound. 廾 represents the meaning and 已 represents the sound. Simplified form of 異. Based on the original meaning "carry on the head", now written as 戴. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

已
已 Sound component
yǐ already
廾
廾 Meaning component
gǒng two hands
Change in meaning
廾 hints at the original meaning of 异, "carry on the head", which is no longer the most common meaning of 异 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyiHɢ(r)ək-s different

說文解字

《說文》：“异，舉也。从廾，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.204-205
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

梦 mèng dream Simplified

Simplified form of 夢. Depicts a person with an emphasized eye (𦰋) sleeping on a bed (爿), conveying the meaning "dream". 𦰋 also represents the sound. The 爿 (bed) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

Components

林
林 Simplified component
lín forest

Shorthand for the 𦰋 component in the traditional character 夢.

夕
夕 Meaning component
xī evening

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.608-609劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 7, p.558林志強《《文源》評注》p.229-230漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

異 yì different Traditional

Original meaning: carry on the head

Depicts two hands putting something on top of the head. Based on the original meaning "carry on the head", now written as 戴. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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
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 (1 of 3 verified)

戴翼冀

Iconic (1)

戴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyiHɢ(r)ək-s different

說文解字

《說文》：“異，分也。从廾、从畀。畀，予也。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.204-205
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

夢 mèng dream Traditional

Depicts a person with an emphasized eye (𦰋) sleeping on a bed (爿), conveying the meaning "dream". 𦰋 also represents the sound. The 爿 (bed) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

Components

𦰋
𦰋 SoundIconic component
méng eyesight obscured

Depicts a person (人) with an emphasized eye (𥄕).

夕
夕 Meaning component
xī evening

Originally 爿, which depicted a bed. Later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuwngHC.məŋ-s dream

說文解字

《說文》：“夢，不明也。从夕，瞢省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.608-609劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 7, p.558林志強《《文源》評注》p.229-230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)