殿军
diàn​jūn

fourth place

殿 diàn hall

Original meaning: to smack the buttocks

Depicts a weapon (殳) smacking a person's buttocks (𡱒). In ancient China, having one's buttocks smacked with a huge stick was one of the punishments criminals could have. Based on the original meaning, "to smack the buttocks". The meaning later shifted to "palace" and "hall", because buildings have an elevated appearance that stick out like buttocks.

Components

𡱒
𡱒 SoundIconic component
tún buttocks

Depicts a person (尸) with their buttocks (𠂤) emphasized. 𡱒 also represents the sound.

Change in sound
殳
殳 Iconic component
shū weapon or tool

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

臀癜澱

Meaning (1)

臀

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdenH[N-t]ˤə[n]-s palace
tenHtˤə[n]-s rear (building, army unit)
tenHtˤə[n]-s palace, hall

說文解字

《說文》：“殿，擊聲也。从殳，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新說》p.227-228ChinaKnowledge.deWiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

军 jūn army Simplified

Simplified form of 軍. Phonosemantic compound. 勻 represents the sound and 車 represents the meaning.

Components

勻
勻 SoundRemnant component
yún equal
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 勻 than it was in ancient scripts.
车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

挥辉浑晕晖荤诨恽郓珲皲

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

恽

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

軍 jūn army Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 勻 represents the sound and 車 represents the meaning.

Components

勻
勻 SoundRemnant component
yún equal
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 勻 than it was in ancient scripts.
車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

運葷輝渾鄆暈諢暉揮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjun[k]ʷər army; camp

說文解字

《說文》：“軍，圜圍也。四千人為軍。从車，从包省。軍，兵車也。”

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)