商务部 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shāng commerce, business

Origin unclear. Composed of 辛 (chisel) and 丙 (pedestal) with 口 being later added as a distinguishing component for the name of an ancient kingdom.

Components

辛 Unknown component

xīn laborious

The purpose of this component is unclear.

丙 Unknown component

bǐng third

The purpose of this component is unclear.

口 Distinguishing component

kǒu, kou mouth

This component was later added when the character was used for the name of an ancient kingdom.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

熵墒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syang	s-taŋ	musical note
	syang	s-taŋ	(place name)
	syang	s-taŋ	estimate; business; trader

說文解字

《說文》：“商，从外知內也。从，章省聲。，古文商。，亦古文商。，籀文商。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

wu, wù business Simplified

Simplified form of 務. Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning. The traditional component 矛 was removed for simplification.

Components

矛 Deleted component

máo spear

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

雾

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

bù part

Original meaning: place in Gansu province

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 咅 represents the sound.

Components

⻏ Meaning component

yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Change in meaning

⻏ hints at the original meaning of 部, "place in Gansu province", which is no longer the most common meaning of 部 in modern Mandarin.

咅 Sound component

pǒu to spit out

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	buwX	[b]ˤ(r)oʔ	lead (v.), govern

說文解字

天水狄部。从邑咅聲。

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)

wu, wù business Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning.

Components

矛 Sound component

máo spear

Change in sound

務 and 矛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
務 mjuH
矛 mjuw

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

霧

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjuH	m(r)o-s	exert oneself

說文解字

趣也。从力敄聲。

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)

商 shāng commerce, business

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

务 wu, wù business Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

部 bù part

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

務 wu, wù business Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

shāng commerce, business

wu, wù business Simplified

bù part

wu, wù business Traditional