善意的谎言
shàn​yì​de​huǎng​yán

white lie

善 shàn good

Composed of two 言 (speech) components and 羊 (sheep). In ancient China sheep (羊) were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why 羊 is a component in characters like 美 (beautiful), 善 (benevolent), and 義 (justice).

Components

羊
羊 Meaning component
yáng sheep
言
言 Sound component
yán speech
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 言 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 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 (0 of 7 verified)

膳缮蟮鳝鄯繕鱔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyenX[g]e[n]ʔ good

說文解字

《說文》：“譱，吉也。从誩，从羊。此與義、美同意。，篆文从言。”

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)

意 yì, yi thought

Thought (意) is the sound (音) that comes from the mind (心). (Oversimplified for brevity. The 音 component in this character has a complicated history.)

Components

音
音 Meaning component
yīn sound
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

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 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 (2 of 7 verified)

臆噫薏癔镱憶億

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

臆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'iHʔ(r)ək-s thought (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“意，志也。从心察言而知意也。从心，从音。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.790-791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)

的 de, dì, dí [possessive]

Original meaning: bright

Phonosemantic compound. 白 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bright".

Components

白
白 Meaning component
bái, bai white
Change in meaning
白 hints at the original meaning of 的, "bright", which is no longer the most common meaning of 的 in modern Mandarin.
勺
勺 Sound component
sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttek[t-l]ˤewk bright; mark in a target

說文解字

《說文》：“旳，明也。从日，勺聲。《易》曰：‘為的顙。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

谎 huǎng lie Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 荒 represents the sound. Simplified form of 謊.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

荒
荒 Sound component
huāng wasteland

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

言 yán speech

Pictograph of a tongue (舌) sticking out of a mouth. In old scripts 言 was written the same as 舌 but with an extra line.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts movement of the tongue coming out of the mouth.

舌
舌 Iconic component
shé tongue
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 舌 than it was in ancient scripts.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Component uses

Meaning (68 of 163 verified)

信该警誉誓譬詹詈謇誊說論證診調訇認請謝訾話誤計語謂議護讀訓識讓設試記許討詳該辯諡諸談誌霅謹詞評訢詢課誘託訚講訂訴讕讚謦詣詩讞詼訪訌訛詿諄譜訕訝詠訃詫詬詮誠謬譯譽訟詭誕誡訣詰誰諛諮諱謨譫詒誇讙讌誾詐諧謚詛諂罰諉諒諦諺謀謠諠註説謄諳誦謌謫譴讎詡獄誙誚誹訥諤諫謾譚訶謎譖誼諭謔詔誑謗謙謅讒誒諙諶諷謊詆誅謳譏譙誣譭訖諾誆謐譎諜諢讖謁誨

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

善這唁狺䜌

Iconic (2)

音訊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjonŋa[n] (a particle)
ngjonŋa[n] I, we
ngjonŋa[n] speak; speech
ngjonŋa[r] tall

說文解字

《說文》：“言，直言曰言，論難曰語。从口，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.160
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

謊 huǎng lie Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 荒 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
荒
荒 Sound component
huāng wasteland

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanghmaːŋʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang