fān​guā

pumpkin

fān to take turns

Original meaning: animal's paw

Depicts an animal's claw () with their paw shown. also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "animal's paw", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundIconic component
biàn, biǎn distinguish

Used here to depict an animal's claw.

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an animal's paw. Modern form looks like unrelated .


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpapˤar martial
phjonpʰar a turn, a time

說文解字

《說文》:“番,獸足謂之番。从采,田象其掌。番或从足、从煩。,古文番。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.89
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

guā melon

Depicts a melon hanging from a vine.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwaekʷˤra melon, gourd

說文解字

《說文》:“瓜,也。象形。”

Sources

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