床铃
chuáng​líng

baby mobile

床 chuáng bed

Depicts a bed (爿) made from wood (木). Originally written as 爿 or 牀.

Components

爿
爿 SoundIconic component
pán, qiáng piece of wood

Depicts a bed.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爿 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzrjangk.dzraŋbed
Zhengzhangzraŋ
Unicodejrhiɑng

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.489-490漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

铃 líng bell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鈴.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

令
令 Sound component
lìng command

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鈴 líng bell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal

釒 is a component form of 金.

令
令 Sound component
lìng command

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːŋ
Unicodeleng

說文解字

令丁也。从金从令，令亦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)