探照灯
tàn​zhào​dēng

searchlight

探 tàn, tan explore, find

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

罙
罙 Sound component
shēn deep
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthoml̥ˤ[ə]m put the hand into and test

說文解字

《說文》：“，遠取之也。从手，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)

照 zhào shine

Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 昭 represents the sound.

Components

灬
灬 Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

昭
昭 SoundMeaning component
zhāo, zhào bright

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 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-SagarttsyewHtaw-s shine on

說文解字

《說文》：“照，明也。从火，昭聲。”

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)

灯 dēng lantern Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燈.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes

Sources

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

燈 dēng lantern Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 登 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
登
登 Sound component
dēng rise

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttongk-tˤəŋ lamp

Sources

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