李瑞环 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

Lǐ Ruìhuán

Li Ruihuan

li plum

A plum (李) is the offspring (子) of a tree (木).

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

子 Meaning component

zi, zǐ child

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 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

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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	liX	C.rəʔ	plum

說文解字

《說文》：“李，果也。从木，子聲。杍，古文。”

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)

ruì token made of jade, lucky, auspicious

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 耑 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩 Meaning component

yù jade

耑 Sound component

duān, zhuān tip, start, extremity

Change in sound

瑞 and 耑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
瑞 *[d]or-s
耑 *tˤor

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyweH	[d]or-s	jade tablet

說文解字

《說文》：“瑞，以玉為信也。从玉、耑。”

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)

huán jade ring or bracelet Simplified

Simplified form of 環. Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 睘 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩 Meaning component

yù jade

不 Simplified component

bù, bu no

Shorthand for the 睘 component in the traditional character 環.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

huán jade ring or bracelet Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 睘 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩 Meaning component

yù jade

睘 Sound component

qióng round

Change in sound

環 and 睘 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
環 hwaen
睘 hwaen

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwaen	C.ɢʷˤ<r>en	ring (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“環，璧也。肉好若一謂之環。从玉，睘聲。”

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)