奏章
zòu​zhāng

memorial to emperor

奏 zòu memorialize emperor

Original meaning: perform music and dance as prayer

Depicts holding decorative plant (𠦪) in both hands (廾) for use in a musical performance to pray.

Components

𠦪
𠦪 Iconic component
tāo, hū decorative plant
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠦪 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

凑揍辏腠楱湊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsuwHtsˤo(ʔ)-s bring forward; perform (music)

說文解字

《說文》：“奏，奏進也。从夲，从，从屮；屮，上進之義。，古文。，亦古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.778-779
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

章 zhāng chapter, seal

Original meaning: jade ornament

Possibly depicts using a blade (䇂) to engrave a block of jade. Based on the original meaning "jade ornament", now written as 璋. Later the meaning shifted to "seal" and "chapter".

Components

䇂
䇂 Iconic component
qiān sickle, curved blade
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a block of jade.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (2 of 13 verified)

障彰璋漳樟蟑瘴嶂鄣獐幛嫜鱆

Iconic (2)

赣贛

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

幛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyangtaŋ brilliant; distinctive mark; to display

說文解字

《說文》：“章，樂竟為一章。从音，从十。十，數之終也。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.198
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)