rèn​me

so

nèn, nín, rèn that

Components

Sound component
rèn responsibility
Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyimXn[ə]mʔthink
Zhengzhangnjɯm
njɯmʔ

說文解字

下齎也。从心任聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

me [question particle] Simplified

Variant form of , which is a pictograph of a twisted thread.

Component uses

Meaning (1)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodeqeu

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.416
Readings & variants
Unicode

me interrogative particle Traditional

Original meaning: thin

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
yāo tiny
Sound component
má, ma hemp

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːlʔ

說文解字

《說文》:“麼,細也,从幺麻聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica