男婴
nán​yīng

baby boy

男 nán male

Traditionally males (男) were the people who plowed (力) the fields (田).

Components

田
田 Meaning component
tián field
力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power

Depicts a plow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

舅甥嬲虜

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnomnˤ[ə]m man, male

說文解字

《說文》：“男，丈夫也。从田，从力，言男用力於田也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918-919
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

婴 yīng infant Simplified

Original meaning: necklace

Simplified form of 嬰. Depicts a woman (女) wearing shell ornaments (賏) around her neck. 賏 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "necklace". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "infant" or "baby".

Components

賏
賏 SoundIconicSimplified component
yīng, yìng pearls or shells strung together

Depicts two shells (贝) strung together.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

樱鹦缨嘤瘿璎撄

Sources

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

嬰 yīng infant Traditional

Original meaning: necklace

Depicts a woman (女) wearing shell ornaments (賏) around her neck. 賏 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "necklace". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "infant" or "baby".

Components

賏
賏 SoundIconic component
yīng, yìng pearls or shells strung together

Depicts two shells (貝) strung together.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

纓櫻鸚瓔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jiengʔeŋ surround; necklace
'jiengʔeŋ baby

說文解字

《說文》：“嬰，頸飾也。从女、賏，賏，其連也。”

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)