本来面目
běn​lái​miàn​mù

true colors

本 běn root

Addition of a horizontal line toward the bottom of 木 (tree) to represent the roots of the tree.

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts roots.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

笨钵苯缽

Meaning (1)

体

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpwonXC.pˤə[n]ʔ tree trunk

說文解字

《說文》：“本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。楍，古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.484-485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)

来 lái come Simplified

Original meaning: wheat

Simplified form of 來. Pictograph of a stalk of wheat. The current meaning "come" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "wheat" is now written as 麥.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

莱睐涞徕崃赉铼梾

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.465
Readings & variants
Unicode

面 miàn, mian face

Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye (目) in the middle. In simplified Chinese 面 is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 麵.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the outline of a face.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
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 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 (1 of 5 verified)

缅腼湎麵緬

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

湎靥靦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

圙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjienHC.me[n]-s face

說文解字

《說文》：“面，顏前也。从，象人面形。”

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)

目 mù eye

Pictograph of an eye.

Character Evolution

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (20 of 91 verified)

看眼省睛督睡瞧盯睁眠瞪盲瞬盼眨瞎瞒瞄睹瞥瞅眩眯瞻眷睦眶睬瞿瞩眺眸睫瞟瞳瞰睑睽睐眈瞠瞌盹瞑睢瞭睨睇眦瞋盱瞽睃矇睥眇眬眙睚眢瞀瞇眚瞍眍眄瞢眭瞓眳睏眵瞼眎睞眥矚窅瞵県瞜睘瞞䀏矓𡍬瞈眡睜眽瞘

Iconic (17)

面民相见直冒曼童泪眉蜀艮見睪𥄕眔憲

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

苜钼

Simplified (1)

见

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuwkC.m(r)[u]k eye

說文解字

《說文》：“目，人眼。象形。重童子也。，古文目。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.261-262
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

來 lái come Traditional

Original meaning: wheat

Pictograph of a stalk of wheat. The current meaning "come" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "wheat" is now written as 麥.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 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 8 verified)

麦麥睞萊賚徠棶淶

Iconic (4)

差麦麥𠩺

Simplified (1)

麦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlojmə.rˤək (> *mə.rˤə)a kind of wheat
lojmə.rˤək (> *rˤə)come

說文解字

《說文》：“來，周所受瑞麥來麰，一來二縫。象芒朿之形。天所來也，故為行來之來。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.465
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)