měi​dāng HSK7

whenever

měi every

Original meaning: young woman of marriageable age

Pictograph of a woman () with a hairpin in her hair. In ancient China, women of marriageable age wore a hairpin. Based on the original meaning "young woman of marriageable age". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a hairpin.

Iconic component
mother

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 12 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojXmˤəʔ each

說文解字

《說文》:“,艸盛上出也。从屮,母聲。”

Sources

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

dāng, dàng, dang to match Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The simplified character was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character .

Components

Simplified component
snout

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

shàng, shang esteem

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

dāng, dàng, dang to match Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tián field
Sound component
shàng, shang esteem

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttangtˤaŋ match (v.); have the value of, rank with
tangHtˤaŋ-s suitable

說文解字

《說文》:“當,田相值也。从田,尚聲。”

Sources

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