yān​hóng

dark red

yīn, yǐn, yān late Shang dynasty, many

Original meaning: intense pain from an illness

Depicts a person with a swollen abdomen () receiving an acupuncture from a hand holding a needle (). Based on the original meaning "intense pain from an illness". The meaning later shifted to "abundant" and "many" while it's other meaning used as the name of a dynasty at the end of the Shang dynasty is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundIconic component
yǐn to turn the body

Depicts a person with a swollen abdomen.

Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand holding a needle.


Character Evolution

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 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'eanʔˤrə[r] dark-red
'j+nʔə[r] 殷殷 distressed
'j+nʔə[r] ample, many
'j+nʔər (dynastic name)

說文解字

《說文》:“殷,作樂之盛稱殷。从,从殳。《易》曰:‘殷薦之上帝。’”

Sources

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

hóng red Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
gōng work

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

hóng red Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
gōng work

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
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthuwnggˤoŋ pink

說文解字

《說文》:“紅,帛赤白色。从糸,工聲。”

Sources

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