忍辱偷生
rěn​rǔ​tōu​shēng

endure humiliation

忍 rěn endure

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 刃 represents the sound.

Components

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
刃
刃 Sound component
rèn knife edge

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

認

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyinXnə[n]ʔ cruel
nyinXnə[n]ʔ endure

說文解字

《說文》：“忍，能也。从心，刃聲。”

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)

辱 rǔ humiliate

Original meaning: to use a farming tool for weeding

Depicts a hand (寸) using a farming tool (辰) to remove dirty weeds. Based on the original meaning "to use a farming tool for weeding", now written as 耨. The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "disgrace" and "humiliate".

Components

辰
辰 Iconic component
chén early morning

Depicts a farming tool.

寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

褥耨缛溽蓐縟媷

Iconic (1)

耨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyowknok disgrace

說文解字

《說文》：“辱，耻也。从寸在辰下。失耕時，於封畺上戮之也。辰者，農之時也。故房星為辰，田候也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1285
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

偷 tōu to steal

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 俞 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

俞
俞 Sound component
yú, shù surname
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthuwl̥ˤo steal

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

生 shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

Components

屮
屮 Iconic component
chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 屮 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict the ground.


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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

性青星省胜姓牲甥笙旌眚

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

靑甤甦產産

Deleted (1)

产

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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)