幻灯机
huàn​dēng​jī

overhead projector

幻 huàn illusion

An inversion of 予, "to give"

Components

幺
幺 Meaning component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡʷreːns

說文解字

《說文》：“幻，相詐惑也。从反予。《周書》曰：‘無或譸張為幻。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

灯 dēng lantern Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燈.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes

Sources

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

机 jī machine Simplified

Simplified form of 機. Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 几 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
几
几 SoundSimplified component
jǐ, jī small table

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkijXkrəjʔ small table, stool

說文解字

《說文》：“机，木也。从木，几聲。”

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)

燈 dēng lantern Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 登 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
登
登 Sound component
dēng rise

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttongk-tˤəŋ lamp

Sources

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

機 jī machine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 幾 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
幾
幾 Sound component
jǐ how much

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 (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkj+jkəj mechanism

說文解字

《說文》：“機，主發謂之機。从木，幾聲。”

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)