咸海 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

Xián Hǎi

Aral Sea

xián all Simplified

Original meaning: massacre

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

Components

戌 Iconic component

xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

口 Distinguishing component

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

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Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

感减喊碱缄箴鹹觱堿緘減

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	heam	[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
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

hǎi sea

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

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

每 Sound component

měi every

Change in sound

海 and 每 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
海 *m̥ˤəʔ (dialect *m̥ˤ- > x-)
每 *mˤəʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Jin 266-420 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

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Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xojX	m̥ˤəʔ (dialect *m̥ˤ- > x-)	sea

說文解字

《說文》：“海，天池也，以納百川者。从水，每聲。”

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)

salty Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鹵 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound.

Components

鹵 Meaning component

salt

咸 Sound component

xián all

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	heam	Cə.[g]ˤr[o]m	salty

說文解字

《說文》：“鹹，銜也。北方味也。从鹵，咸聲。”

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)