慢半拍
màn​bàn​pāi

half-beat behind

慢 màn slow(ly)

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

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

曼
曼 Sound component
màn long

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaenHmˤra[n]-s disrespectful

說文解字

《說文》：“慢，惰也。从心，曼聲。一曰慢，不畏也。”

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)

半 bàn half

Depicts separating a cow (牛) into two halves (八).

Components

八
八 Iconic component
bā eight

Depicts splitting into two halves.

牛
牛 Iconic component
niú cow
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 牛 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

判伴叛胖畔衅绊拌袢泮絆

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

畔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpanHpˤan-s half

說文解字

《說文》：“半，物中分也。从八，从牛。牛為物大，可以分也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.89-90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)

拍 pāi clap

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

啪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphaekmə-pʰˤrak to strike

Sources

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