独立宣言
dú​lì​xuān​yán

Declaration of Independence

独 dú alone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound. Simplified form of 獨.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

虫
虫 Simplified component
chóng bug, insect

Shorthand for the phonetic 蜀 component in the traditional character 獨.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

立 lì stand

Pictograph of a person standing on the ground.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

位拉粒泣垃笠飒翊昱砬颯

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

站端竭靖竣砬竘

Iconic (3)

位竝並

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlipk.rəp stand (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“立，住也。从大，立一之上。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.782-783
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

宣 xuān declare, announce

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 亘 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof

Alludes to an emperor giving proclamations inside his palace.

亘
亘 Sound component
gèn, xuān, gèng turn around, turn back

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

喧渲暄煊萱楦揎諠瑄碹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjwens-qʷar spread (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“宣，天子宣室也。从宀，亘聲。”

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)

言 yán speech

Pictograph of a tongue (舌) sticking out of a mouth. In old scripts 言 was written the same as 舌 but with an extra line.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts movement of the tongue coming out of the mouth.

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

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (68 of 163 verified)

信该警誉誓譬詹詈謇誊說論證診調訇認請謝訾話誤計語謂議護讀訓識讓設試記許討詳該辯諡諸談誌霅謹詞評訢詢課誘託訚講訂訴讕讚謦詣詩讞詼訪訌訛詿諄譜訕訝詠訃詫詬詮誠謬譯譽訟詭誕誡訣詰誰諛諮諱謨譫詒誇讙讌誾詐諧謚詛諂罰諉諒諦諺謀謠諠註説謄諳誦謌謫譴讎詡獄誙誚誹訥諤諫謾譚訶謎譖誼諭謔詔誑謗謙謅讒誒諙諶諷謊詆誅謳譏譙誣譭訖諾誆謐譎諜諢讖謁誨

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

善這唁狺䜌

Iconic (2)

音訊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjonŋa[n] (a particle)
ngjonŋa[n] I, we
ngjonŋa[n] speak; speech
ngjonŋa[r] tall

說文解字

《說文》：“言，直言曰言，論難曰語。从口，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.160
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

獨 dú alone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

蜀
蜀 Sound component
shǔ short name for Sichuan
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwk[d]ˤok alone; only

說文解字

《說文》：“獨，犬相得而鬭也。从犬，蜀聲。羊為羣，犬為獨也。一曰北囂山有獨獸，如虎，白身，豕鬣，尾如馬。”

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)