幸免于难 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xìng fortunate

Origin unclear.

Components

犬 Unknown component

quǎn dog

The purpose of this component is unclear.

Change in form

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

矢 Unknown component

shǐ arrow

Here 矢 is rotated upside-down. Similar to 至. The purpose of this component is unclear.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

悻圉倖

Meaning (1)

倖

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	heangX	[g]ˤreŋʔ	fortunate

說文解字

《說文》：“，吉而免凶也。从屰，从夭。夭死之事，故死謂之不。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.768-769
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

miǎn (hat), avoid

Original meaning: hat

Pictograph of a person wearing a hat or a crown, now written as 冕. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

晚勉挽冕娩谗鞔浼輓絻𠓥

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

搀

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjenX	mr[o][r]ʔ	avoid

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.640-641林志強《《文源》評注》p.410
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica

yú at Simplified

Original meaning: wind instrument

Pictograph of a musical wind instrument with a reed, which is now written as 竽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

宇污吁迂盂芋圩竽纡盱邘玗紆

Iconic (1)

竽

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hju	ɢʷ(r)a	go; at
	hju	ɦʷa (< *ɢʷ(r)a)	單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“于，於也。象气之舒于。从丂，从一。一者，其气平之也。”

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)

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

yū, wū in Traditional

Originally a variant form of 烏, which is a pictograph of a crow. The current use as a function word is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

淤瘀阏菸閼

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'u	[ʔ]ˤa	oh!
	'jo	[ʔ]a	at (locative preposition)

說文解字

《說文》：“烏，孝鳥也。象形。孔子曰：‘烏，呼也。’取其助气，故以為烏呼。，古文烏，象形。於，象古文烏省。”

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)

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.