心慌意乱
xīn​huāng​yì​luàn

flustered

心 xīn, xin heart

Pictograph of a human's heart.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (41 of 94 verified)

想意应感思怎念态志愿急您恶恩恐忽忘忍怒悲患愈忠悉恋慈慧惠惑慰怨惩闷悬愚忌悠愁恳惹恕芯惫怠憋忒忿怂憨恙恿恚恣忐忑懋憩懑怼恁愆愍戆悫慝恧憝恝悶忞懸慾㥯惡慼態憂憑應懣恥懇寍戇戀慶慫惪愛憊懲憲愬懟

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

芯沁吣

Simplified (2)

应虑

Iconic (2)

怱悤

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsimsəm heart

說文解字

《說文》：“心，人心。土藏，在身之中。象形。博士說以為火藏。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.787
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

慌 huāng, huang nervous

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 荒 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

荒
荒 Sound component
huāng wasteland

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwangXm̥ ˤaŋʔconfused
Zhengzhanghmaːŋ
hmaːŋʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

意 yì, yi thought

Thought (意) is the sound (音) that comes from the mind (心). (Oversimplified for brevity. The 音 component in this character has a complicated history.)

Components

音
音 Meaning component
yīn sound
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

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

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

臆噫薏癔镱憶億

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

臆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'iHʔ(r)ək-s thought (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“意，志也。从心察言而知意也。从心，从音。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.790-791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)

乱 luàn confusion, mess Simplified

Original meaning: untangle threads

Simplified form of 亂. Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components

舌
舌 Simplified component
shé tongue

Shorthand for the 𤔔 component in the traditional character 亂.

乚
乚 Distinguishing component
yǐn, yà turning stroke

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.960漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

亂 luàn confusion, mess Traditional

Original meaning: untangle threads

Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components

𤔔
𤔔 SoundIconic component
luàn (untangle threads), to govern

Depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame.

乚
乚 Distinguishing component
yǐn, yà turning stroke

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwanH[r]ˤo[n]-s disorder, rebellion

說文解字

《說文》：“亂，治也。从乙。乙，治之也。从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.960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)