sù​yuàn

cherished wish

宿 sù, xiǔ lodge, sleep overnight

Depicts a person () sleeping on a bamboo mat () under a roof ().

Components

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
rén person
Iconic component
tiàn a mat

Depicts a bamboo mat. Later corrupted to unrelated .


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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjuwk[s]uk spend the night
sjuwH[s]uk-s "mansion" of the zodiac (where the moon is found on successive nights)

說文解字

《說文》:“,止也。从宀,聲。,古文夙。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.597
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yuàn sincere Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "hope; wish", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components

Sound component
yuán source
Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋʷans
Unicodengiuæn

說文解字

《說文》:“愿,謹也。从心,原聲。”

Sources

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

desire Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
yuán source
Meaning component
(head), page

Depicts a head, which is where wishes originate from.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjwonH[ŋ]o[n]-s (< nasal + uvular?) to wish

說文解字

《說文》:“願,大頭也。从頁,原聲。”

Sources

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