甜点
tián​diǎn

dessert

甜 tián sweet

Depicts the tongue (舌) tasting something sweet (甘).

Components

舌
舌 Meaning component
shé tongue
甘
甘 Meaning component
gān sweetness

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl'iːm

說文解字

《說文》：“甛，美也。从甘，从舌。舌，知甘者。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

点 diǎn dot Simplified

Simplified form of 點. Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound
灬
灬 MeaningSimplified component
biāo, huǒ fire

Simplified from the 黑 (black) component in the traditional character 點.

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

點 diǎn dot Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound.

Components

黑
黑 Meaning component
hēi black
占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttemXtˤemʔ black spot

說文解字

《說文》：“點，小黑也。从黑，占聲。”

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)