电位 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

diàn electricity Simplified

Original meaning: lightning

Simplified form of 電, which depicts lightning (申) during a rainstorm (雨). The 雨 component was deleted for simplification.

Components

雨 Deleted component

yǔ rain

申 Sound Iconic component

shēn to extend

Depicts lightning.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.981-982
Readings & variants: Unicode

wèi position

Depicts a person (亻) standing (立) in a specific position.

Components

亻 Iconic component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

立 Sound Iconic component

lì stand

立 also represents the sound.

Change in sound

位 and 立 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
位 *[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)
立 *k.rəp

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

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

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莅

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

涖

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwijH	[ɢ]ʷrəp-s (< *ɢʷəʔ-rəp-s ?)	standing, position

說文解字

《說文》：“位，列中庭之左右謂之位。从人、立。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫廣韻形聲考
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

diàn electricity Traditional

Original meaning: lightning

Depicts lightning (申) during a rainstorm (雨).

Components

雨 Meaning component

yǔ rain

申 Sound Iconic component

shēn to extend

Depicts lightning.

Change in sound

電 and 申 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
電 *lˤi[n]-s
申 *l̥i[n]

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	denH	lˤi[n]-s	lightning

說文解字

《說文》：“電，陰陽激燿也。从雨，从申。，古文電。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.981-982
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

电 diàn electricity Simplified

Components

Sources

位 wèi position

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

電 diàn electricity Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

diàn electricity Simplified

wèi position

diàn electricity Traditional