晚辈
wǎn​bèi

junior

晚 wǎn night

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 免 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
免
免 Sound component
miǎn (hat), avoid
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjonXm[o][r]ʔ late

說文解字

《說文》：“晚，莫也。从日，免聲。”

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)

辈 bèi generation, lifetime Simplified

Original meaning: large group of chariots

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "large group of chariots". The meaning later shifted to "group of things" and "generation". Simplified form of 輩.

Components

非
非 Sound component
fēi not
车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
车 hints at the original meaning of 辈, "large group of chariots", which is no longer the most common meaning of 辈 in modern Mandarin.

Sources

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

輩 bèi generation, lifetime Traditional

Original meaning: large group of chariots

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "large group of chariots". The meaning later shifted to "group of things" and "generation".

Components

非
非 Sound component
fēi not
車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
車 hints at the original meaning of 輩, "large group of chariots", which is no longer the most common meaning of 輩 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpuːls
Unicodebə̀i

說文解字

《說文》：“輩，若軍發車百兩為一輩。从車，非聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)