Běn​jié​míng

Benjamin

běn root

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

Components

Iconic component
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)

Meaning (1)

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

jié outstanding Simplified

Depicts a tree () and fire (). Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
tree
Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

is a component form of .

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡrad

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

míng, ming bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight () shining through a window (). The component was later reanalyzed as (sun).

Components

SoundIconic component
jiǒng bright window

The modern form looks similar to (sun).

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
yuè, yue moon

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjaengmraŋ bright

說文解字

《說文》:“朙,照也。从月,从囧。明,古文朙,从日。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.551-552漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

hero Traditional

Original meaning: to be elevated

Originally written as , which depicts two feet () on top of a tree (). (person) was later added to the character as a meaning component. Based on the original meaning, "to be elevated". The meaning later shifted to "outstanding person" and "hero".

Components

Meaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

SoundIconic component
jié cruel

Depicts two feet () on top of a tree ().

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgjetN-[k]<r>at remarkable; hero

說文解字

《說文》:“傑,傲也。从人,桀聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2404
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica