xián all

Original meaning: massacre

Depicts a massacre with a weapon (), based on the original meaning "massacre". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartheam[g]ˤr[ə]m all; everywhere

說文解字

《說文》:“咸,皆也,悉也。从口,从戌。戌,悉也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

níng, nìng peaceful, (storage container) Simplified

Original meaning: storage container

Pictograph of a container for storing things. Original form of . In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "peaceful", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangda
daʔ

說文解字

《說文》:“宁,辨積物也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》 p.1508-1509
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

níng, nìng peaceful Traditional

Depicts a peaceful place with food to eat (). was added to depict a table.

Components

SoundMeaning component
níng peaceful
Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a table.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 (0 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnengnˤeŋ peace

說文解字

《說文》:“寧,願詞也。从丂,寍聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica