huànHuàn

be numerous

Original meaning: take from someone's house

Depicts two hands () taking something from a person's () house (). Based on the original meaning "take from someone's house". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
xué, jué cave
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Modern form looks like unrelated .

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰʷaːns

說文解字

《說文》:“奐,取奐也,一曰大也。从廾,敻省。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

huàn be numerous Simplified

Original meaning: take from someone's house

Simplified form of . Depicts two hands () taking something from a person's () house (). Based on the original meaning "take from someone's house". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
xué, jué cave
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Sources

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