德黑兰
Dé​hēi​lán

Tehran

德 dé virtue

Originally written as 惪, depicting a straight (直) heart (心). The 彳 (walk) component was added later.

Components

彳
彳 Meaning component
chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

惪
惪 SoundMeaning component
dé virtue

Original form of 德.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttoktˤək virtue

說文解字

《說文》：“德，升也。从彳，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)

黑 hēi black

Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed

Pictograph of a person whose face has been tattooed, now written as 墨. In ancient China criminals were punished by having their faces permanently marked. Later writers reanalyzed the character as a chimney being blackened by fire, so the bottom component was written to look like 炎 (flame).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 14 verified)

黛黯黝黔黜黠點黢黧黥黟黨黴黪

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

默墨嘿黩黷

Iconic (2)

墨𦰩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxokm̥ˤək (dialect *m̥ˤ- > xˤ-)black

說文解字

《說文》：“黑，火所熏之色也。从炎上出囦。囦古字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.760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)

兰 lán orchid Simplified

Simplified form of 蘭. Phonosemantic compound. 䒑 represents the meaning and 三 represents the sound.

Components

䒑
䒑 Meaning component
cǎo grass

䒑 is a component form of 艸.

二
二 Simplified component
èr two

Shorthand for the 闌 component in the traditional character 蘭.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

烂拦栏

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

蘭 orchid Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlank.rˤan orchid

說文解字

《說文》：“蘭，香艸也。从艸，闌聲。”

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)