huí​zèng

reciprocate

huí return

Depicts water rotating around in a circle.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

Iconic (3)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwoj[ɢ]ʷˤəj go around

說文解字

《說文》:“回,轉也。从囗,中象回轉形。囘,古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.515-516
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zèng give present Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell
Sound component
céng already

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

give present Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell
Sound component
céng already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzongH[dz]ˤəŋ-sgive
Zhengzhangzɯːŋs
Unicodedzhə̀ng

說文解字

玩好相送也。从貝曾聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica