吕洞宾
Lǚ Dòng​bīn

Lü Dongbin

吕 lǚ pitchpipe Simplified

Original meaning: metal plates

Depicts two metal plates.

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (0 of 7 verified)

侣铝闾莒閭稆鋁

Iconic (2)

金釒

Meaning (2)

匀勻

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“呂，脊骨也。象形。昔太嶽為禹心呂之臣，故封呂侯。膂，篆文呂，从肉，从旅。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.604
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

洞 dòng cave

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 同 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

同
同 Sound component
tóng, tong, tòng together

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdoːŋ
doːŋs
Unicodedhùng
dhung

說文解字

《說文》：“洞，疾流也。从水，同聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

宾 bīn guest Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 兵 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賓.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
兵
兵 Sound component
bīng soldier

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

滨鬓缤殡嫔槟摈膑髌镔

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

傧

Sources

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

呂 pitchpipe Traditional

Original meaning: metal plates

Depicts two metal plates.

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (1 of 2 verified)

予侶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljoX[r]aʔ spine; pitch-pipe

說文解字

《說文》：“呂，脊骨也。象形。昔太嶽為禹心呂之臣，故封呂侯。膂，篆文呂，从肉，从旅。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.604
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

賓 bīn guest Traditional

Depicts a guest walking (止) into a house (宀) with a gift (貝).

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 止 than it was in ancient scripts.
貝
貝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.


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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 (0 of 8 verified)

髕鬢擯殯檳濱繽嬪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjinpi[n] guest

說文解字

《說文》：“賓，所敬也。从貝，聲。，古文。”

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)