延平

延 yán delay

Original meaning: walk

Phonosemantic compound. 廴 represents the meaning and 正 represents the sound.

Components

正
正 Sound component
zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 正 than it was in ancient scripts.
廴
廴 Meaning component
yǐn, yìn walk

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

蛋诞蜒涎筵誕

Remnant (1)

蛋

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

埏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyenla[n] extend

說文解字

《說文》：“延，長行也。从，丿聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.135
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

平 píng flat

Original meaning: to strike

Depicts using a staff (丂) for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as 抨. The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the moving motion of striking.

丂
丂 Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a staff.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 11 verified)

评苹坪砰抨怦鲆枰評泙鮃

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

坪秤枰

Iconic (1)

抨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjien[b]en distinguish; punctiious
bjaengbreŋ even (adj.)
bjaengm-breŋ make even

說文解字

《說文》：“平，語平舒也。从亏，从八。八，分也。”

Sources

Character origin
王森《甲骨文、金文所谓“乎”字当释为“平”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)