坤位
kūn​wèi

Kun position

坤 kūn earth

Phonosemantic compound. 申 represents the meaning and 土 represents the sound. Simplified form of 堃.

Components

申
申 Meaning component
shēn to extend
土
土 Sound component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhwon[kʰ]ˤu[n]earth (trigram or hexagram)
Zhengzhangkʰuːn
Unicodekuən

說文解字

地也。《易》之卦也。从土从申。土位在申。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

位 wèi position

Depicts a person (亻) standing (立) in a specific position.

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

立
立 SoundIconic component
lì stand

立 also represents the sound.

Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莅

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

涖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwijH[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)standing, position

說文解字

《說文》：“位，列中庭之左右謂之位。从人、立。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫廣韻形聲考
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)