kind

Components

Sound component
zī, cí now
Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzi[N-ts]əloving, kind
Zhengzhang
Unicodedzhiə

說文解字

愛也。从心兹聲。

Sources

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

méi eyebrows

Depicts hair above the eye ().

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts eyebrows.

Iconic component
eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmijmr[ə][r] eyebrow

說文解字

《說文》:“眉,目上毛也。从目,象眉之形,上象頟理也。”

Sources

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

shàn good

Composed of two (speech) components and (sheep). In ancient China sheep () were associated with goodness and beauty, which is why is a component in characters like (beautiful), (benevolent), and (justice).

Components

Meaning component
yáng sheep
Sound component
yán speech
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyenX[g]e[n]ʔ good

說文解字

《說文》:“譱,吉也。从誩,从羊。此與義、美同意。,篆文从言。”

Sources

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

yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
eye
Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngonXŋˤə[n]ʔ protrude as a knob
ngeanX[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ eye

說文解字

《說文》:“眼,目也。从目,聲。”

Sources

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