天花乱坠 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tiān, tian sky

Original meaning: head

Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a head.

大 Iconic component

dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	then	l̥ˤi[n]	heaven
	xen	l̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-)	heaven

說文解字

《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)

huā, hua flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 化 represents the sound.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

化 Sound component

huà change

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xwae	qʷʰˤra	flower (n.)

Sources

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

luàn confusion, mess Simplified

Original meaning: untangle threads

Simplified form of 亂. Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components

舌 Simplified component

shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

乚 Distinguishing component

yǐn, yà turning stroke

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.960漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

zhuì fall down Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 队 represents the sound. Simplified form of 墜.

Components

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

队 Sound component

duì team

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

luàn confusion, mess Traditional

Original meaning: untangle threads

Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".