国家军品贸易局 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

guó nation Simplified

Simplified form of 國. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

玉 Sound Simplified component

yù jade

Shorthand for the 或 component in the traditional character 國.

Change in sound

国 and 玉 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
国 *[C.q]ʷˤək
玉 *[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?)

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

帼蝈掴

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

jiā, jia house

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and a remnant of 豭 represents the sound.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

豭 Sound Remnant component

jiā boar

Left half of 豭 (boar).

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 (1 of 4 verified)

嫁稼镓傢

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kae	kˤra	household

說文解字

《說文》：“家，居也。从宀，豭省聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.589-590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)

jūn army Simplified

Simplified form of 軍. Phonosemantic compound. 勻 represents the sound and 車 represents the meaning.

Components

勻 Sound Remnant component

yún equal

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 勻 than it was in ancient scripts.

车 Meaning component

chē cart, vehicle

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

挥辉浑晕晖荤诨恽郓珲皲

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

恽

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

pǐn product

Triple of 口. Depicts several types of things together.

Components

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	phimX	pʰr[ə]mʔ	kind, class

說文解字

《說文》：“品，眾庶也。从三口。”

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)

mào trade Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 卯 represents the sound. Simplified form of 貿.

Components

卯 Sound component

mǎo 4th terrestrial branch

贝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Sources

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

yì easy

Original meaning: to bestow, give

Upside-down version of 益, depicting food or drink being poured from a container (皿). Based on the original meaning "to bestow, give", now written as 賜. The meaning later shifted to "exchange", "change", and "easy".

Components

皿 Iconic component

mǐn, mǐng dish

Depicts a vessel for holding food or drink.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 皿 than it was in ancient scripts.

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts food or drink being poured from a container.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

锡赐踢惕剔蜴裼埸錫賜鬄

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

裼鬄

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yeH	lek-s	easy
	yek	lek	change; exchange

說文解字

《說文》：“易，蜥易，蝘蜓，守宮也。象形。《秘書》說，日月為易，象陰陽也。一曰从勿。”

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)

jú bureau

Original meaning: bent, curved

Phonosemantic compound. 尸 represents the meaning and 句 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bent, curved". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.