tóu​nǎo​fēng​bào

brainstorming

tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The simplified character was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character .

Components

dòu bean
(head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

nǎo brain Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Simplified component
xìn fontanel

Shorthand for the phonetic 𡿺 component in the traditional character .

Sources

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

fēng wind Simplified

Simplified form of . Originally written the same as (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

Sound component
fán all
Simplified component
five

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 10 verified)

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

bào violent

Original meaning: expose to sun

Depicts two hands () laying out rice () to dry under the sun (), representing the meaning "expose to sun", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "expose", "injure", and "violent".

Components

Iconic component
sun
Iconic component
gòng together with

Depicts two hands.

Iconic component
rice
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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbawH[b]ˤawk-s violent
buwkm-pˤawk expose to sun

說文解字

《說文》:“曓,疾有所趣也。从日出廾之。”

Sources

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

tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Iconic component
(head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》:“頭,首也。从頁,豆聲。”

Sources

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

nǎo brain Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

𡿺
𡿺 SoundMeaning component
nǎo brain

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnawXnˤ[u]ʔ brain

Sources

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

fēng wind Traditional

Originally written the same as (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

Sound component
fán all
Remnant component
fèng male phoenix

Abbreviated remnant of , originally a pictograph of a mythical bird. Later reanalyzed as .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 10 verified)

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwngprəm wind (n.)
pjuwngHprəm-s blow; criticize

說文解字

《說文》:“風,八風也。東方曰明庶風;東南曰清明風;南方曰景風;西南曰涼風;西方曰閶闔風;西北曰不周風;北方曰廣莫風;東北曰融風。風動蟲生,故蟲八日而化。从虫,凡聲。凬,古文風。”

Sources

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