命在旦夕 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

mìngzàidànxī

dying

mìng life

Original meaning: command

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound and meaning. Based on the original meaning "command". The meaning later shifted to "fate" and "life".

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

令 Sound Meaning component

lìng command

令 also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjaengH	m-riŋ-s (dialect: m-r- > mr-, -iŋ> -eŋ)	command (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“命，使也。从口，从令。”

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)

zài be at

Composed of 才 and 士, which both represent the sound.

Components

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

士 Sound component

shì, shi scholar, soldier

Modern form looks like 土, but is unrelated.

Change in sound

在 and 士 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
在 dzojX
士 dzriX

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzojX	[dz]ˤəʔ	be at, be present

說文解字

《說文》：“在，存也。从土，才聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.908
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

dàn dawn

Depicts the sun (日) rising above the horizon (一) at dawn. In the oracle bone script the bottom component was the phonetic 丁, which was later reanalyzed as the earth or a horizon.

Components

日 Iconic component

rì sun

一 Iconic component

yī one

Depicts the horizon.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 12 verified)

但担坦胆袒靼疸妲笪怛钽亶

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Unknown (2 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tanH	tˤan-s	dawn

說文解字

《說文》：“旦，明也。从日見一上。一，地也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.539
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xī evening

Pictograph of the moon. Used to express "evening" or "night".

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

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

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Component uses

Meaning (3 of 7 verified)

夜梦汐飧夤穸夢

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Iconic (2)

Simplified (2)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zjek	s-ɢAk	evening, night

說文解字

《說文》：“夕，莫也。从月半見。”

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)