duō​jiàn

common

duō much

Depicts two pieces of meat together to convey the meaning "much" or "plentiful". In ancient China meat was a rare treat. Unrelated to .

Components

Iconic component
ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

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

Depicts a piece of meat.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartta[t.l]ˤaj many

說文解字

《說文》:“多,重也。从重夕。夕者,相繹也,故為多。重夕為多,重日為。,古文多。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.557
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Simplified

Simplified form of . Pictograph of a person () using their eye () to see ().

Components

eye

Depicts an eye.

Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

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

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Sources

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

jiàn, xiàn, jian see Traditional

Pictograph of a person () using their eye () to see ().

Components

Iconic component
eye

Depicts an eye.

Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person.

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

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 Warring States ~250 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 (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkenH[k]ˤen-s see (v.)
henHN-[k]ˤen-s appear
henHm-[k]ˤen-s cause to appear, introduce

說文解字

《說文》:“見,視也。从儿,从目。”

Sources

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