旧愁新恨 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jiù old Simplified

Simplified form of 舊. Derived from the cursive form of the sound component 臼.

Components

臼 Sound Simplified component

jiù mortar

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

chóu anxiety

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 秋 represents the sound.

Components

心 Meaning component

xīn, xin heart

秋 Sound component

qiū autumn

Character Evolution

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzrjuw	[dz]riw	grieved
Zhengzhang		zrɯw
Unicode	jrhiou

說文解字

憂也。从心秋聲。

Sources

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

xīn new

Original meaning: firewood

Phonosemantic component. 辛 represents the sound, and 斤 (axe) and 木 (tree) represent the original meaning "firewood", now written as 薪. The meaning later shifted to "fresh" and "new".

Components

辛 Sound component

xīn laborious

木 Iconic component

mù tree

Depicts a tree being cut for firewood.

Change in meaning

木 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

斤 Iconic component

jīn axe

Depicts an axe cutting a tree for firewood.

Change in meaning

斤 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

薪

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sin	s.tsʰi[n]	new

說文解字

《說文》：“新，取木也。从斤，新聲。”

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)

hèn hatred

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

艮 Sound component

gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	honH	[m-q]ˤə[n]-s	regret

說文解字

《說文》：“恨，怨也。从心，艮聲。”

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)

jiù old Traditional

Original meaning: type of owl

Phonosemantic compound. 雈 represents the meaning and 臼 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of owl". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.