电脑辅助工程 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

nǎo brain Simplified

Simplified form of 腦. Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

⺼ Meaning component

ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

囟 Simplified component

xìn fontanel

Shorthand for the phonetic 𡿺 component in the traditional character 腦.

Sources

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

fǔ cheek bone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 甫 represents the sound. Simplified form of 輔.

Components

车 Meaning component

chē cart, vehicle

甫 Sound component

fu begin

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

zhù help

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

Components

且 Sound component

qiě moreover

Change in sound

助 and 且 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
助 dzrjoH
且 tsjo

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

锄鋤

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

锄鋤

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzrjoH	[dz]ra-s	help (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“助，左也。从力，且聲。”

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)

gōng work

Depicts a tool with a blade.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (11 of 23 verified)

空功红项江攻贡虹巩缸扛杠肛汞邛讧紅貢豇項仝舡訌 show all 23 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuwng	kˤoŋ	officer
	kuwng	kˤoŋ	work

說文解字

《說文》：“工，巧飾也。象人有規榘也。與巫同意。，古文工从彡。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.381-382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)

chéng sequence

Original meaning: unit of measurement

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 呈 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "unit of measurement". The meaning later shifted to "rule", "procedure", "sequence", and "journey".

Components

禾 Meaning component

hé grain stalk

Change in meaning

禾 hints at the original meaning of 程, "unit of measurement", which is no longer the most common meaning of 程 in modern Mandarin.

呈 Sound component

chéng submit

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	drjeng	(C.)lreŋ	Chéng (a surname)
	drjeng	l<r>eŋ	rule, norm

說文解字

《說文》：“程，品也。十髮為程，十程為分，十分為寸。从禾，呈聲。”

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)

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

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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)

nǎo brain Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

⺼ Meaning component

ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

𡿺 Sound Meaning component

nǎo brain

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nawX	nˤ[u]ʔ	brain

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart

fǔ cheek bone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 甫 represents the sound.

Components

車 Meaning component

chē cart, vehicle

甫 Sound component

fu begin

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bjuX	[b](r)aʔ	help
Zhengzhang		baʔ
Unicode	bhiǒ

說文解字

人頰車也。从車甫聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

电 diàn electricity Simplified

Components

Sources

脑 nǎo brain Simplified

Components

Sources

辅 fǔ cheek bone Simplified

Components

Sources

助 zhù help

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

工 gōng work

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (11 of 23 verified)

Meaning (3 of 7 verified)

Iconic (4)

Unknown (0 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

程 chéng sequence

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

電 diàn electricity Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

腦 nǎo brain Traditional

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

輔 fǔ cheek bone Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

diàn electricity Simplified

nǎo brain Simplified

fǔ cheek bone Simplified

zhù help

gōng work

chéng sequence

diàn electricity Traditional

nǎo brain Traditional

fǔ cheek bone Traditional