囊中羞涩
náng​zhōng​xiū​sè

broke

囊 náng, nāng bag

Phonosemantic compound. 襄 represents the sound and 橐 represents the meaning.

Components

橐
橐 IconicRemnant component
tuó, dù, luò a sack

Depicts a tied bag with a bottom.

襄
襄 SoundRemnant component
xiāng aid
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

囔馕攮饢

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnangnˤaŋ sack, bag

說文解字

《說文》：“囊，橐也。从省，襄省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.240-241李学勤《字源》p.557-558
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

中 zhōng, zhòng central

Depicts a flagpole. There is a circle in the middle marking the center of the flagpole. In older forms of the character, the flagpole has streamers at the top and bottom used to show the direction of the wind.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

种冲钟忠仲肿衷忡盅舯沖

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

仲衷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjuwngtruŋ center
trjuwngHtruŋ-s hit the center

說文解字

《說文》：“中，內也。从口、丨，上下通。，古文中。，籀文中。”

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)

羞 xiū shy, ashamed

Original meaning: offer a delicacy

Depicts a hand (丑) holding sheep meat (羊). Based on the original meaning "offer a delicacy", now written as 饈. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

羊
羊 Iconic component
yáng sheep
丑
丑 SoundIconic component
chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly

Depicts a hand.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Western Zhou ~800 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

Sound (2)

馐饈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjuws-nu shame

說文解字

《說文》：“羞，進獻也。从羊，羊所進也；从丑，丑亦聲。”

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)

涩 sè astringent Simplified

Original meaning: unsmooth

Simplified form of 澀. Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 歰 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "unsmooth". The meaning later shifted to "rough" and "astringent".

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

歰
歰 SoundMeaningSimplified component
sè, shà unsmooth

Sources

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

澀 astringent Traditional

Original meaning: unsmooth

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 歰 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "unsmooth". The meaning later shifted to "rough" and "astringent".

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

歰
歰 SoundMeaning component
sè, shà unsmooth

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsrɯb
Unicodeshrip

Sources

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