感谢信 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gǎnxièxìn

thank-you letter

gǎn feel

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

Components

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

咸 Sound component

xián all

Change in sound

感 and 咸 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
感 *kˤ[ə]mʔ
咸 *[g]ˤr[ə]m

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	komX	kˤ[ə]mʔ	move (emotionally) (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“感，動人心也。从心，咸聲。”

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)

xiè, xie thank Simplified

Simplified form of 謝. Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 射 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

射 Sound component

shè shoot

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

xìn trust

Conveys trusting (信) what a person (人) says (言). 人 is also a sound component.

Components

亻 Sound Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound

信 and 亻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
信 *s-ni[ŋ]-s
亻 *ni[ŋ]

言 Meaning component

yán speech

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sinH	s-ni[ŋ]-s	truthful

說文解字

《說文》：“信，誠也。从人，从言，會意。，古文从言省。訃，古文信。”

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)

xiè, xie thank Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 射 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

射 Sound component

shè shoot

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zjaeH	sə-lAk-s	decline, renounce

說文解字

《說文》：“謝，辤去也。从言，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)