百弊丛生
bǎi​bì​cóng​shēng

rife with defects

百 bǎi one hundred

Phonosemantic compound. 一 represents the meaning and 白 represents the sound.

Components

一
一 Meaning component
yī one
白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

佰貊皕

Sound (2)

陌佰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaekpˤrak hundred

說文解字

《說文》：“百，十十也。从一、白。數，十百為一貫，相章也。，古文百从自。”

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)

弊 bì evil

Two hands 廾 breaking something 敝; 敝 also provides the pronunciation

Components

敝
敝 SoundMeaning component
bì worn out
廾
廾 Meaning component
gǒng two hands

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbeds
Unicodebhiɛ̀i

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

丛 cóng bush Simplified

Simplified form of 叢. 从 represents the sound.

Components

一
一 Simplified component
yī one

Stroke added to distinguish this character from 从.

从
从 Sound component
cóng, cōng from

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

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)

叢 cóng bush Traditional

Components

丵
丵 Meaning component
zhuó chisel
取
取 Sound component
qǔ take
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzuwngdzˤoŋ collect; thicket

說文解字

《說文》：“叢，聚也。从丵，取聲。”

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)