探询
tàn​xún

ask after

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)

询 xún inquire into Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 旬 represents the sound. Simplified form of 詢.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

旬
旬 Sound component
xún ten-day period

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

詢 xún inquire into Traditional

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

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
旬
旬 Sound component
xún ten-day period

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsqʰʷin

說文解字

謀也。从言旬聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)