核不扩散
hé​bù​kuò​sàn

nuclear nonproliferation

核 hé seed, kernel, core

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 亥 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
亥
亥 Sound component
hài, jiē 12th terrestrial branch

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartheak[g]ˤ<r>ək kernel fruit; scrutinize

說文解字

《說文》：“核，蠻夷以木皮為篋，狀如籨尊。从木，亥聲。”

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)

不 bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

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
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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

还环怀坏

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

否歪甭孬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwpə not
pjuwpə 不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

扩 kuò expand, enlarge Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 广 represents the sound. Simplified form of 擴.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

广
广 SoundMeaning component
guǎng roof
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

散 sàn, sǎn scatter

Originally written as 𢽳, which depicted trees (林) being struck (攵) to make things fall off the tree and scatter. The character 斝 was sometimes confused with the character 散, and a corruption of it visually similar to 月 was added.

Components

𢽳
𢽳 SoundMeaning component
sàn scatter
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢽳 than it was in ancient scripts.
斝
斝 Remnant component
jiǎ small jade wine cup

Modern form looks like 月.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 斝 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

撒霰馓饊

Meaning (1)

撒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsanX[s]ˤa[n]ʔ scattered (adj.)
sanHmə-sˤa[n]ʔ-s scatter (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，雜肉也。从肉，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.345-346
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

擴 kuò expand, enlarge Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 廣 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

廣
廣 SoundMeaning component
guǎng wide
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhwakkʷʰˤak widen

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart