回邮信封 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

huíyóuxìnfēng

return envelope

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

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

徊蛔洄茴迴逥

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

Iconic (3)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

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

yóu postal Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⻏ represents the meaning and 由 represents the sound. Simplified form of 郵.

Components

由 Sound component

yóu cause

⻏ Meaning component

yì city

阝 is a component form of 邑.

Character Evolution

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

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	lɯw

說文解字

《說文》：“邮，左馮翊高陵。从邑，由聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xìn trust

Conveys trusting (信) what a person (人) says (言). 人 is also a sound component.

Components

亻 Sound Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound

信 and 亻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
信 *s-ni[ŋ]-s
亻 *ni[ŋ]

言 Meaning component

yán speech

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

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 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sinH	s-ni[ŋ]-s	truthful

說文解字

《說文》：“信，誠也。从人，从言，會意。，古文从言省。訃，古文信。”

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)

fēng letter

Original meaning: create a boundary with plants

Depicts using hands (寸) to cultivate plants (丰). Based on the original meaning "create a boundary with plants". The meaning later shifted to "divide off", "seal", and "letter".

Components

寸 Iconic component

cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

丰 Sound Iconic component

fēng luxuriant

Depicts a plant growing in the ground.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丰 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

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjowng	p(r)oŋ	raise a mound; enfeoff

說文解字

《說文》：“封，爵諸矦之土也。从之，从土，从寸，守其制度也。公侯百里，伯七十里，子男五十里。，古文封省。，籀文从。”

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)

yóu mail Traditional

Depicts delivering between cities (⻏) and borderlands (垂).

Components

垂 Meaning component

chuí droop

Based on the original "borderlands" meaning of 垂.

⻏ Meaning component

yì city

⻏ is a component form of 邑.

Character Evolution

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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	ɢʷɯ

說文解字

境上行書舍。从邑、垂。垂，邊也。

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)