烟消云散
yān​xiāo​yún​sàn

vanish

烟 yān smoke Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 因 represents the sound. Simplified form of 煙.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
因
因 Sound component
yīn cause

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'en[q]ˤi[n] vapor, smoke

說文解字

《說文》：“煙，火气也。从火，垔聲。烟，或从因；，古文；，籀文从宀。”

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)

消 xiāo vanish

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

肖
肖 Sound component
xiào look like

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartsjew[s]ew dissolve; disappear

說文解字

《說文》：“消，盡也。从水，肖聲。”

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)

云 yún clouds Simplified

Depicts a swirl of clouds up (上) in the sky.

Components

上
上 Meaning component
shàng, shang up
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 上 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a swirl of clouds.

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 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
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 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

Sound (6 of 14 verified)

运魂坛旬匀芸酝耘纭陰雲紜勻侌

Simplified (3)

动层尝

Meaning (2 of 3 verified)

陰雲侌

Iconic (1)

昙

Unknown (1)

藝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjun[ɢ]ʷə[r] say

說文解字

《說文》：“雲，山川气也。从雨，云象雲回轉形。云，古文省雨。云說文古文;2，亦古文雲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.819
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

散 sàn, sǎn scatter

Originally written as 𢽳, which depicted trees (林) being struck (攵) to make things fall off the tree and scatter. The character 斝 was sometimes confused with the character 散, and a corruption of it visually similar to 月 was added.

Components

𢽳
𢽳 SoundMeaning component
sàn scatter
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𢽳 than it was in ancient scripts.
斝
斝 Remnant component
jiǎ small jade wine cup

Modern form looks like 月.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 斝 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

撒霰馓饊

Meaning (1)

撒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsanX[s]ˤa[n]ʔ scattered (adj.)
sanHmə-sˤa[n]ʔ-s scatter (v.t.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，雜肉也。从肉，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.345-346
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

煙 yān smoke Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 垔 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
垔
垔 Sound component
yīn dam up, block, restrain

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'en[q]ˤi[n] smoke

說文解字

《說文》：“煙，火气也。从火，垔聲。烟，或从因；，古文；，籀文从宀。”

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)

雲 clouds Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 雨 represents the meaning and 云 represents the sound.

Components

雨
雨 Meaning component
yǔ rain
云
云 SoundMeaning component
yún clouds

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 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
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 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

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蕓

Iconic (1)

曇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjun[ɢ]ʷə[n] cloud

說文解字

《說文》：“雲，山川气也。从雨，云象雲回轉形。云，古文省雨。云說文古文;2，亦古文雲。”

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)