水力鼓风
shuǐ​lì​gǔ​fēng

hydraulic bellows

水 shuǐ water

Depicts the flow of water in a river.

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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 14 verified)

冰浆汞泵颍滕淼荥凼氽汆滎氹漿

Iconic (8)

益泰泉尿沓盥彔眔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsywijXs.turʔ (E dialect: *-r > *-j)water; river

說文解字

《說文》：“水，準也。北方之行。象眾水並流，中有微陽之气也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.795
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

力 lì, li power

Pictograph of a plow, which requires strength to operate.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (24 of 47 verified)

动加务办功势男助劳努勇劲励勃劝勤幼劫勉勋勘募劾饬夯勖劭劬勐劢辦飭勞劦勢務勛勦勸勵劼劵勝勁勈動勳

Sound (4 of 9 verified)

历勒励劣肋仂阞勵艻

Simplified (3 of 5 verified)

边伤穷胁虏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlikk.rək strength

說文解字

《說文》：“力，筋也。象人筋之形。治功曰力，能圉大災。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918-919
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鼓 gǔ drum

Depicts a drumstick held in the hand (支) beating on a drum (壴).

Components

壴
壴 Iconic component
zhù drum
支
支 Iconic component
zhī support, hold up

Depicts a hand holding a drumstick.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

鼙瞽臌

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

鼗鼕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuX[k]ˤaʔ drum (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“鼓，郭也。春分之音，萬物郭皮甲而出，故謂之鼓。从壴。支，象其手擊之也。《周禮》：‘六鼓：靁鼓八面，靈鼓六面，路鼓四面，鼖鼓、皐鼓、晉鼓皆兩面。’，籀文鼓。从古聲。”

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)

风 fēng wind Simplified

Simplified form of 風. Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
㐅
㐅 Simplified component
wǔ five

Shorthand for the 虫 component in the traditional character 風.

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 10 verified)

飘岚飙飓飕飒飚飑飖飐

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

疯讽枫砜

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

風 fēng wind Traditional

Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
鳳
鳳 Remnant component
fèng male phoenix

Abbreviated remnant of 鳳, originally a pictograph of a mythical bird. Later reanalyzed as 虫.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 10 verified)

颼飆颱颻颶颯颭飄嵐颳

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

楓瘋諷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwngprəm wind (n.)
pjuwngHprəm-s blow; criticize

說文解字

《說文》：“風，八風也。東方曰明庶風；東南曰清明風；南方曰景風；西南曰涼風；西方曰閶闔風；西北曰不周風；北方曰廣莫風；東北曰融風。風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。从虫，凡聲。凬，古文風。”

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)