fù​shēng

rebirth

return Simplified

Pictograph of a foot entering or exiting a building, representing the meaning "to return".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts some sort of enclosed building.

Iconic component
zhǐ, zhōng go

is a component form of . Depicts a foot.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjuwkm-p(r)uk return

說文解字

《說文》:“,行故道也。从夊,畗省聲。”

Sources

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

shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout () emerging from the ground ().

Components

Iconic component
chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
one

Used here to depict the ground.


Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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 (7 of 11 verified)

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

Deleted (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》:“生,進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.506漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

return Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
return

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjuwH[N]-pruk-s again
bjuwkm-p(r)uk return

說文解字

《說文》:“復,往來也。从彳,复聲。”

Sources

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