护林员
hù​lín​yuán

forest ranger

护 hù protect Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 户 represents the sound. Simplified form of 護.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

户
户 Sound component
hù, hu door

Sources

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

林 lín forest

Combination of two trees (木).

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

离禁淋琳彬婪霖郴啉痲

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

楚焚梵麓潸棼

Iconic (4)

离鬱𢽳棥

Simplified (1)

梦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

爨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlim[r]əm forest

說文解字

《說文》：“林，平土有叢木曰林。从二木。”

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

護 hù protect Traditional

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

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
蒦
蒦 Sound component
huò, wò catch, get

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthuH[ɢ]ʷˤak-s protect

說文解字

《說文》：“護，救視也。从言，蒦聲。”

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)

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)