打字员
dǎ​zì​yuán

typist

打 dǎ, da strike

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

咑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangrteŋʔ
teːŋʔ
Unicodeděng

說文解字

《說文新附》：“打，擊也。从手，丁聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

字 zì, zi letter

Original meaning: raise up children

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 子 represents the sound. The 宀 (roof) component is based on the original meaning "raise up children". The meaning later shifted to "educate", "word", and "writing".

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
Change in meaning
宀 hints at the original meaning of 字, "raise up children", which is no longer the most common meaning of 字 in modern Mandarin.
子
子 SoundMeaning component
zi, zǐ child
Change in meaning
子 hints at the original meaning of 字, "raise up children", which is no longer the most common meaning of 字 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

牸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdziHmə-dzə(ʔ)-s breed, love (v.); character

說文解字

《說文》：“字，乳也。从子在宀下，子亦聲。”

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)

员 yuán member Simplified

Simplified form of 員. Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a circle.

贝
贝 IconicRemnant component
bèi sea shell
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 贝 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

损圆勋陨殒郧埙筼

Sources

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

員 yuán member Traditional

Original meaning: round

Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a circle.

鼎
鼎 IconicRemnant component
dǐng, zhēn cooking pot
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 鼎 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

韻損勛篔殞隕鄖圓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjwenɢʷ<r>en circle; round
hjun[ɢ]ʷə[n] (a particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“員，物數也。从貝，口聲。鼎，籀文从鼎。”

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)