太阴 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tàiyīn

the moon

tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

大 Sound Meaning component

dà, dài big

Change in sound

太 and 大 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
太 *l̥ˤa[t]-s
大 *lˤa[t]-s

丶 Distinguishing component

zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

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

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

态汰钛肽呔酞鈦

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thajH	l̥ˤa[t]-s	great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)

yīn dark Simplified

The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳. In Chinese philosophy, the moon (月) corresponds to Yin (阴) and the sun (日) corresponds to Yang (阳).

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

月 Simplified component

yuè, yue moon

Simplified from the traditional 陰. Used here since the moon corresponds to the 'Yin' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

yīn dark Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 今 and 云 represent the sound, while 阝 and 云 represent the meaning.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜. Depicts hills blocking sunlight.

今 Sound component

jīn now

云 Sound Meaning component

yún clouds

Depicts clouds darkening the sky.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'im	q(r)um	dark

說文解字

闇也。水之南、山之北也。从𨸏侌聲。

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)