大钢琴
dà​gāng​qín

grand piano

大 dà, dài big

Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (9 of 21 verified)

去太奇套尖奈赤契夸奎奢奕叁奘夯奁夼尜奩奓𢧤

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業

Sound (6 of 11 verified)

太达夺泰驮耷奪馱忕羍旲

Simplified (4)

类奖奋庆

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

爨䙴

Deleted (1)

业

Remnant (1)

椉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdaHlˤat-s (MC F!)big
dajHlˤa[t]-s big

說文解字

《說文》：“大，天大、地大、人亦大，故大象人形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.764
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

钢 gāng steel Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 冈 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鋼.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

冈
冈 Sound component
gāng ridge or crest of hill

Sources

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

琴 qín Chinese lute or guitar

The top component is a pictograph of a zither-like stringed musical instrument. 今 is a sound component.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Pictograph of a stringed musical instrument similar to a zither.

今
今 Sound component
jīn now

Character Evolution

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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgim[C.ɢ](r)[ə]m lute

說文解字

《說文》：“琴，禁也。神農所作。洞越，練朱五弦，周加二弦。象形。”

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)

鋼 gāng steel Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 岡 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal

釒 is a component form of 金.

岡
岡 Sound component
gāng ridge or crest of hill

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkangC.kˤaŋ cast iron; steel

Sources

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