清涧县
Qīng​jiàn Xiàn

Qingjian County

清 qīng clear

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

青
青 Sound component
qīng green or blue

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshjengtsʰeŋ clear (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“清，朖也，澂水之皃。从水，青聲。”

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)

涧 jiàn brook Simplified

A stream 氵 flowing through a valley 间; 间 also provides the pronunciation

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
间
间 SoundMeaning component
jiān, jian, jiàn space

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

县 xiàn county Simplified

Original meaning: suspend, hang

Simplified form of 縣. Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木). Based on the original meaning "hang" or "suspend". The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The traditional component 系 was removed for simplification.

Components

首
首 Iconic component
shǒu head

Depicts a severed head.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 首 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 木 than it was in ancient scripts.
縣
系 Deleted component
xì, xi, jì system

Depicts a rope. The traditional component 系 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (1)

悬

Iconic (1)

悬

Sources

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

澗 brook Traditional

A stream 氵 flowing through a valley 間; 間 also provides the pronunciation

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
間
間 SoundMeaning component
jiān, jian, jiàn space

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkænH[k]ˤra[n]-s (rhymes as if *[k]ˤra[n])stream in a ravine
Zhengzhangkreːns
kraːns
Unicodegɑ̀n

說文解字

山夾水也。从水閒聲。一曰澗水，出弘農新安，東南入洛。

Sources

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

縣 xiàn county Traditional

Original meaning: suspend, hang

Pictograph of a severed head (首) hanging on a rope (系) from a tree (木). Based on the original meaning "hang" or "suspend", now written as 懸. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

首
首 Iconic component
shǒu head

Depicts a severed head.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 首 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 木 than it was in ancient scripts.
系
系 Iconic component
xì, xi, jì system

Depicts a rope.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

懸

Iconic (1)

懸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwenHCə.[g]ʷˤe[n]-s district
hwen[g]ʷˤe[n] suspend

說文解字

《說文》：“縣，繫也。从系持。”

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)