生存农业 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)

cún exist, keep

Phonosemantic compound. 子 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

子 Meaning component

zi, zǐ child

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

Change in sound

存 and 才 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
存 *[dz]ˤə[n]
才 *[dz]ˤə

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

荐

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzwon	[dz]ˤə[n]	exist

說文解字

《說文》：“存，恤問也。从子，才聲。”

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)

nóng agriculture, farming Simplified

Simplified form of 農. Depicts using a farming tool (辰) in a field (田).

Components

辰 Iconic Simplified component

chén early morning

Depicts a farming tool.

田 Deleted component

tián field

The 田 (field) component was deleted for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

浓侬脓哝

Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.207
Readings & variants: Unicode

yè profession Simplified

Original meaning: attack

Simplified character from the top 5 strokes of the traditional 業. Depicts a person (大) carrying a weapon (丵). Based on the original meaning "attack". The meaning later shifted to "expand territory" and "develop business".

Components

丵 Simplified Remnant component

zhuó chisel

Shorthand for the 丵 component. Depicts a chisel-shaped weapon.

大 Deleted component

dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

显虚

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

邺

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.168-169Chinese Language Stack Exchange
Readings & variants: Unicode

nóng agriculture, farming Traditional

Depicts using a farming tool (辰) in a field (田).

Components

田 Iconic component

tián field

Change in form

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

辰 Iconic component

chén early morning

Depicts a farming tool.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

膿噥儂憹濃

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nowng	nˤ[o]ŋ	agriculture; to farm

說文解字

《說文》：“，耕也。从，囟聲。，籀文从林。，古文；辳，亦古文。”

Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.207
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yè profession Traditional

Original meaning: attack

Depicts a person (大) carrying a weapon (丵). Based on the original meaning "attack". The meaning later shifted to "expand territory" and "develop business".