Original meaning: flow out
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 寅 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flow out". The meaning later shifted to "spread", "develop", and "perform".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yenX | N-q(r)anʔ | flow out, extend |
說文解字
《說文》：“演，長流也。一曰水名。从水，寅聲。”
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)
Depicts a memorial tablet used for spiritual rituals.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zyijH | s-gijʔ-s | show (v.) |
| tsyeH | ke-s | put (= 寘) |
說文解字
《說文》：“示，天垂象，見吉凶，所以示人也。从二；三垂，日、月、星也。觀乎天文以察時變，示，神事也。，古文示。”
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)
Pictograph of a man with writing (possibly a tattoo) on his chest. In later scripts the writing was abbreviated to a dot or omitted altogether.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjun | mə[n] | ornate |
說文解字
《說文》：“文，錯畫也。象交文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.706
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kawX | Cə.[k]ˤawʔ | straw |
| Zhengzhang | kaːwʔ |
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica