生灵
shēng​líng

creature

生 shēng, sheng life

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

Components

屮
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
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict the ground.


Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

性青星省胜姓牲甥笙旌眚

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

靑甤甦產産

Deleted (1)

产

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (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)

灵 líng, ling spirit Simplified

Simplified form of 靈. Phonosemantic compound. 巫 represents the meaning and 霝 represents the sound.

Components

彐
彐 Simplified component
jì snout

Shorthand for the 霝 component in the traditional character 靈.

火
火 Simplified component
huǒ fire

Shorthand for the 巫 component in the traditional character 靈.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

棂

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

靈 líng, ling spirit Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 巫 represents the meaning and 霝 represents the sound.

Components

霝
霝 Sound component
líng drops of rain
巫
巫 Meaning component
wū wizard, shaman

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

欞

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartleng[r]ˤeŋ supernatural

說文解字

《說文》：“，靈巫，以玉事神。从玉，霝聲。靈，或从巫。”

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)