jiān​láo

sturdy

jiān firm, solid Simplified

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

Components

𰀡
𰀡 Sound component
qiān to gouge out an eye
Meaning component
earth

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

láo prison

Original meaning: pen; fence

Depicts an animal, such as a cow (), trapped around an animal's fence ().

Components

Iconic component
mián roof

Originally a pictograph of an animal pen. Later reanalyzed as (roof).

Iconic component
niú cow

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangruː
Unicodelɑu

說文解字

《說文》:“牢,閑,養牛馬圈也。从牛,冬省,取其四周帀也。”

Sources

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

jiān firm, solid Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
to gouge out an eye
Meaning component
earth

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkenkˤi[ŋ] solid, strong

說文解字

《說文》:“堅,剛也。从臤,从土。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica