彰化县 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zhāng clear

Phonosemantic compound. 彡 represents the meaning and 章 represents the sound.

Components

彡 Meaning component

shān, xiǎn hair

章 Sound component

zhāng chapter, seal

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	kjaŋ

說文解字

文彰也。从彡从章，章亦聲。

Sources

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

huà change

Pictograph of a right-side up person (亻) and an upside-down person (𠤎), depicting the meaning "turn around" or "transform".

Components

亻 Iconic component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

𠤎 Iconic component

huà upside-down person

Depicts an upside-down person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

花华货靴讹貨訛

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xwaeH	qʷʰˤ<r>aj-s	transform

說文解字

《說文》：“化，教行也。从，从人，亦聲。”

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)

xiàn county Simplified

Original meaning: suspend, hang

Simplified form of 縣. Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木). Based on the original meaning "hang" or "suspend". The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The traditional component 系 was removed for simplification.

Components

首 Iconic component

shǒu head

Depicts a severed head.

Change in form

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

木 Iconic component

mù tree

Change in form

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

系 Deleted component

xì, xi, jì system

Depicts a rope. The traditional component 系 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (1)

悬

Iconic (1)

悬

Sources

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

xiàn county Traditional

Original meaning: suspend, hang

Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木). Based on the original meaning "hang" or "suspend", now written as 懸. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.