帮工
bāng​gōng

help

帮 bāng help Simplified

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 邦 represents the sound. Simplified form of 幫. Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth
邦
邦 Sound component
bāng nation

Sources

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

工 gōng work

Depicts a tool with a blade.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
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 Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 (11 of 23 verified)

空功红项江攻贡虹巩缸扛杠肛汞邛讧紅貢豇項仝舡訌

Meaning (3 of 7 verified)

式左巧扛杠讧訌

Iconic (4)

塞㠭𤔌𡨄

Unknown (0 of 3 verified)

巯隉湼

Simplified (1)

毁

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuwngkˤoŋ officer
kuwngkˤoŋ work

說文解字

《說文》：“工，巧飾也。象人有規榘也。與巫同意。，古文工从彡。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.381-382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)

幫 bāng help Traditional

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. 帛 represents the meaning and 封 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

帛
帛 Meaning component
bó silks
封
封 Sound component
fēng letter

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpaːŋ

Sources

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