扩散周知
kuò​sàn​zhōu​zhī

spread the word

扩 kuò expand, enlarge Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 广 represents the sound. Simplified form of 擴.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

广
广 SoundMeaning component
guǎng roof
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

散 sàn, sǎn scatter

Originally written as 𢽳, which depicted trees (林) being struck (攵) to make things fall off the tree and scatter. The character 斝 was sometimes confused with the character 散, and a corruption of it visually similar to 月 was added.

Components

𢽳
𢽳 SoundMeaning component
sàn scatter
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢽳 than it was in ancient scripts.
斝
斝 Remnant component
jiǎ small jade wine cup

Modern form looks like 月.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

撒霰馓饊

Meaning (1)

撒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsanX[s]ˤa[n]ʔ scattered (adj.)
sanHmə-sˤa[n]ʔ-s scatter (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，雜肉也。从肉，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.345-346
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

周 zhōu cycle

Original meaning: to carve jade

Depicts a carved jade object, now written as 彫/琱. The meaning later shifted to "circumference" and "cycle". Later the 口 component was added when 周 was used to refer to a geographical region to indicate that the character was only "mouthed", i.e. used for its sound. In simplified Chinese 周 is also used to mean "week", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 週.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a jade object that has been carved.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 18 verified)

调雕绸稠碉凋惆調啁鲷鵰週赒蜩鯛椆綢賙

Iconic (1)

畫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtiw Zhōu (dynasty and place)
tsyuwtiw cycle; all around

說文解字

《說文》：“周，密也。从用、口。，古文周字从古文及。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.99-100林志強《《文源》評注》p.134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)

知 zhī know

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 矢 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Transfer of knowledge is done through speech.

矢
矢 Sound component
shǐ arrow

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 (1 of 5 verified)

智痴蜘踟椥

Meaning (1)

智

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjetre know

說文解字

《說文》：“知，詞也。从口，从矢。”

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)

擴 kuò expand, enlarge Traditional

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

廣
廣 SoundMeaning component
guǎng wide
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhwakkʷʰˤak widen

Sources

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