吕蒙
Lǚ Méng

Lü Meng

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)

蒙 méng, mēng, měng cover

Original meaning: a parasitic vine

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 冡 represents the sound. Originally the name of a plant, later meanings coincide with the original meaning of 冡 (to cover).

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
Change in meaning
艹 hints at the original meaning of 蒙, "a parasitic vine", which is no longer the most common meaning of 蒙 in modern Mandarin.
冡
冡 Sound component
méng to cover

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

朦檬蠓矇艨礞懞濛曚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmuwngmˤoŋ cover (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“蒙，王女也。从艸，冡聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李學勤 《字源》 p.58
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

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)