ba, bā to wish

Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of . In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaepˤra snake
paepˤra [place name]

說文解字

《說文》:“巴,蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yàn, pán elegant Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts being accomplished in both literature () and military skill (). is a phonetic component.

Components

Meaning component
wén writing
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Sound component
chǎng cliff, (roof)
Meaning component
gōng bow
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

Remnant (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋrans
Unicodebgyɛ̀n

Sources

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

elegant Traditional

Depicts being accomplished in both literature () and military skill (). is a phonetic component.

Components

Meaning component
wén writing
Sound component
chǎng cliff, (roof)
Meaning component
gōng bow
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjenHŋrar-s adornment

說文解字

《說文》:“彥,美士有文,人所言也。从彣,厂聲。”

Sources

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