悯惜
mǐn​xī

pity

悯 mǐn pity Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 闵 represents the sound. Simplified form of 憫.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

闵
闵 Sound component
mǐn, mín mourn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

惜 xī pity

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

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart
昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartsjek[s]Ak regret; alas

說文解字

《說文》：“惜，痛也。从心，昔聲。”

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)

憫 pity Traditional

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

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

閔
閔 Sound component
mourn

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartminXmrə[n]ʔgrieved
Zhengzhangmrɯnʔ

Sources

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