xuán, xuàn black

Originally the same character as . Similar to , with an distinguishing mark at the top.

Components

tóu head
Iconic component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 10 verified)

Iconic (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwen[ɢ]ʷˤi[n] dark

說文解字

《說文》:“玄,幽遠也。黑而有赤色者為玄。象幽而入覆之也。,古文玄。”

Sources

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

róng melt

To form hot metal  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
huǒ fire
Meaning component
róng contain; appearance

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangloŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

yán cliff

The rocks that make up a mountain 

Components

Meaning component
shān mountain
Meaning component
shí stone

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngæm[ŋ]ˤr[a]m (< uvular?)rocky, lofty
Zhengzhangŋraːm
Unicodengam

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang