shè​hēi'àn

gang-related case

shè wade

Depicts taking steps () through water ().

Components

Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Iconic component
step

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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

Iconic (4)

Remnant (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdjeb
teːb
Unicodezhiɛp

說文解字

《說文》:“,徒行厲水也。从沝,从步。涉,篆文从水。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

hēi black

Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed

Pictograph of a person whose face has been tattooed, now written as . In ancient China criminals were punished by having their faces permanently marked. Later writers reanalyzed the character as a chimney being blackened by fire, so the bottom component was written to look like (flame).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 (3 of 14 verified)

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Iconic (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxokm̥ˤək (dialect *m̥ˤ- > xˤ-)black

說文解字

《說文》:“黑,火所熏之色也。从炎上出囦。囦古字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.760漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

àn table, case, incident

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
ān peaceful
Meaning component
tree

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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'anHʔˤa[n]-s stool; tray

說文解字

《說文》:“案,几屬。从木,安聲。”

Sources

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