mìng​mài

lifeline

mìng life

Original meaning: command

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

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
SoundMeaning component
lìng command

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjaengHm-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

mài blood vessels Simplified

Simplified form and variant of . The blood vessels is the part of the body (⺼) where blood flows ().

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Meaning component
yǒng long

Used here to allude to flowing blood in the blood vessels.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeakC.mˤ<r>[i]k vein

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1019
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

mài blood vessels Traditional

The blood vessels is the part of the body (⺼) where blood flows (𠂢).

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

𠂢
𠂢 SoundMeaning component
pài river branching

Used here to allude to flowing blood in the blood vessels. 𠂢 also represents the sound.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeakC.mˤ<r>[i]k vein

說文解字

《說文》:“,血理分衺行體者,从从血。脈,或从肉。衇,籀文。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1019
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica