波澜不惊 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

bō waves

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

皮 Sound component

pí skin

Change in sound

波 and 皮 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
波 *pˤaj
皮 *m-[p](r)aj

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

婆啵菠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

啵

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pa	pˤaj	wave (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“波，水涌流也。从水，皮聲。”

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)

lán overflowing Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 阑 represents the sound. Simplified form of 瀾.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

阑 Sound component

lán, làn door screen

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjuw	pə	not
	pjuw	pə	不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

jīng startle, frighten Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 驚.

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

京 Sound component

jīng capital city

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

overflowing Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

闌 Sound component

door screen

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	lanX	[r]ˤanʔ	water in which rice has been washed
Zhengzhang		ɡ·raːn
		ɡ·raːns
Unicode	lɑn
	lɑ̀n

說文解字

大波爲瀾。从水闌聲。

Sources

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

jīng startle, frighten Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 馬 represents the meaning and 敬 represents the sound.

Components

敬 Sound component

jìng respect

馬 Meaning component

mǎ horse

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjaeng	kreŋ	be afraid

說文解字

《說文》：“驚，馬駭也。从馬，敬聲。”

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)

波 bō waves

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

澜 lán overflowing Simplified

Components

Sources

不 bù, bu no

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Simplified (4)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

惊 jīng startle, frighten Simplified

Components

Sources

瀾 overflowing Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

驚 jīng startle, frighten Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

bō waves

lán overflowing Simplified

bù, bu no

jīng startle, frighten Simplified

overflowing Traditional

jīng startle, frighten Traditional