梦魇
mèng​yǎn

nightmare

梦 mèng dream Simplified

Simplified form of 夢. Depicts a person with an emphasized eye (𦰋) sleeping on a bed (爿), conveying the meaning "dream". 𦰋 also represents the sound. The 爿 (bed) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

Components

林
林 Simplified component
lín forest

Shorthand for the 𦰋 component in the traditional character 夢.

夕
夕 Meaning component
xī evening

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.608-609劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 7, p.558林志強《《文源》評注》p.229-230漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

魇 yǎn nightmare Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 厌 represents the sound. Simplified form of 魘.

Components

鬼
鬼 Meaning component
guǐ ghost
厌
厌 Sound component
yàn dislike

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

夢 mèng dream Traditional

Depicts a person with an emphasized eye (𦰋) sleeping on a bed (爿), conveying the meaning "dream". 𦰋 also represents the sound. The 爿 (bed) component was later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

Components

𦰋
𦰋 SoundIconic component
méng eyesight obscured

Depicts a person (人) with an emphasized eye (𥄕).

夕
夕 Meaning component
xī evening

Originally 爿, which depicted a bed. Later reanalyzed as meaning component 夕 (evening).

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuwngHC.məŋ-s dream

說文解字

《說文》：“夢，不明也。从夕，瞢省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.608-609劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 7, p.558林志強《《文源》評注》p.229-230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)

魘 nightmare Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 厭 represents the sound.

Components

鬼
鬼 Meaning component
guǐ ghost
厭
厭 Sound component
yàn dislike

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqemʔ
qeb

說文解字

㝱驚也。从鬼厭聲。

Sources

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