柏林围墙
Bó​lín Wéi​qiáng

Berlin Wall

柏 bǎi cypress

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 白 represents the sound. Simplified form of 栢.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpækpˤrakcypress
Zhengzhangpraːɡ
Unicodebæk

說文解字

鞠也。从木白聲。

Sources

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

林 lín forest

Combination of two trees (木).

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 10 verified)

离禁淋琳彬婪霖郴啉痲

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

楚焚梵麓潸棼

Iconic (4)

离鬱𢽳棥

Simplified (1)

梦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

爨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlim[r]əm forest

說文解字

《說文》：“林，平土有叢木曰林。从二木。”

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)

围 wéi surround Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 韦 represents the sound.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
韦
韦 Sound component
wéi, huí tanned leather

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

涠

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

墙 qiáng wall Simplified

Simplified form of 牆. Phonosemantic compound. 爿 represents the sound and 嗇 represents the meaning.

Components

土
土 Simplified component
tǔ earth

Shorthand for the phonetic 爿 component in the traditional character 牆.

啬
啬 Iconic component
sè stingy

Depicts a building for storing grain.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

圍 wéi surround Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 韋 represents the sound.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
韋
韋 Sound component
(surround a city), tanned leather

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjw+j[ɢ]ʷə[j] surround

說文解字

《說文》：“圍，守也。从囗，韋聲。”

Sources

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

牆 qiáng wall Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 爿 represents the sound and 嗇 represents the meaning.

Components

爿
爿 Sound component
pán, qiáng piece of wood
嗇
嗇 Iconic component
stingy

Depicts a building for storing grain.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangzaŋ
Unicodedzhiɑng

說文解字

《說文》：“牆，垣蔽也。从嗇，爿聲。，籀文从二禾；，籀文亦从二來。”

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)