惊慌失措
jīng​huāng​shī​cuò HSK7

panicked

惊 jīng startle, frighten Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 驚.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

京
京 Sound component
jīng capital city

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

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

失 shī lose

Original meaning: leisure; carefree

Depicts a person with their hair loose. Based on the original meaning "leisure; carefree", now written as 佚. The meaning later shifted to "lose" and "fail".

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

铁跌秩迭轶帙鉄瓞袟泆軼

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

跌佚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyitl̥i[t] lose

說文解字

《說文》：“失，縱也。从手，乙聲。”

Sources

Character origin
何景成《甲骨文字詁林補編》p.26黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.3349
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

措 cuò to place, arrange

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshuH[tsʰ]ˤak-s place (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“措，置也。从手，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)

驚 jīng startle, frighten Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 馬 represents the meaning and 敬 represents the sound.

Components

敬
敬 Sound component
jìng respect
馬
馬 Meaning component
mǎ horse

Character Evolution

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-Sagartkjaengkreŋ be afraid

說文解字

《說文》：“驚，馬駭也。从馬，敬聲。”

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)