生产劳动 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

Components

屮 Iconic component

chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form

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

一 Iconic component

yī one

Used here to depict the ground.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sraeng	sreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)	bear, be born; live
	sraeng	sreŋ	fresh, raw
	srjaeng	sreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)	bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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)

chǎn give birth Simplified

Simplified form of 產. Phonosemantic compound. 生 represents the meaning and 彥 represents the sound. The traditional component 生 was removed for simplification.

Components

彦 Sound Remnant component

yàn, pán elegant

Change in sound

产 and 彦 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
产 *s-ŋrarʔ
彦 ŋrans

生 Deleted component

shēng, sheng life

The traditional component 生 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

铲浐

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

láo labor Simplified

Simplified form of 勞. Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

艹 Simplified component

cao, cǎo grass

Shorthand for the 炏 (flame) component in the traditional character 勞.

衣 Iconic Remnant component

yī clothes

Change in form

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

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

捞唠涝崂痨耢铹

Sources

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

dòng move Simplified

Simplified form of 動. Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning. The sound component 重 was simplified to 云.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

云 Simplified component

yún clouds

Shorthand based on the cursive form of the 重 component in the traditional character 動.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

恸

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

恸

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

chǎn give birth Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 生 represents the meaning and 彥 represents the sound.

Components

彥 Sound Remnant component

elegant

Change in sound

產 and 彥 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
產 *s-ŋrarʔ
彥 *ŋrar-s

生 Meaning component

shēng, sheng life

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2)

隡剷

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sreanX	s-ŋrarʔ	bear (v.), produce

說文解字

《說文》：“產，生也。从生，彥省聲。”

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)

láo labor Traditional

Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes (衣) with only firelight (炏). Later the 力 (strength, power) component was added.

Components

炏 Iconic component

yán, kài flame

衣 Iconic Remnant component

yī clothes

Change in form

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

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

撈澇嘮嶗癆

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	law	[r]ˤaw	toil
	lawH	[r]ˤaw-s	to reward for toil

說文解字

《說文》：“勞，劇也。从力，熒省。熒火燒冂，用力者勞。，古文勞从悉。”

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)

dòng move Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 重 represents the sound.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

重 Sound component

zhòng, chóng heavy

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

慟

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

慟

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	duwngX	[Cə-m-]tˤoŋʔ	move

說文解字

《說文》：“動，作也。从力，重聲。，古文動从辵。”

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)

生 shēng, sheng life

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

Deleted (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

产 chǎn give birth Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

劳 láo labor Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Sources

动 dòng move Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

產 chǎn give birth Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

勞 láo labor Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

動 dòng move Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

shēng, sheng life

chǎn give birth Simplified

láo labor Simplified

dòng move Simplified

chǎn give birth Traditional

láo labor Traditional

dòng move Traditional