官衔
guān​xián

official title

官 guān official

Depicts an official person (師) working in a governmental institution (宀).

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
師
師 MeaningRemnant component
shī teacher

𠂤 is used here as an abbreviation of 師.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

管馆棺倌绾涫菅逭館

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwankʷˤa[n] official (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“官，吏事君也。从宀，从。猶眾也，此與師同意。”

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)

衔 xián bit Simplified

Components

行
行 Sound component
xíng, háng walk
钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

銜 xián bit Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 金 represents the meaning and 行 represents the sound.

Components

金
金 Meaning component
jīn metal
行
行 Sound component
xíng, háng walk

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthaem[g]ˤr[a]m a bit

說文解字

《說文》：“銜，馬勒口中。从金，从行。銜，行馬者也。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)