监理
jiān​lǐ

regulate

监 jiān watch carefully Simplified

Simplified form of 監. Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) at his own reflection on a plate (皿).

Components

臣
臣 IconicSimplified component
chén minister

Depicts an eye.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 臣 than it was in ancient scripts.
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.
皿
皿 Iconic component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

蓝滥篮尴槛褴

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

理 lǐ, li reason

Original meaning: cut jade

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

Change in meaning
𤣩 hints at the original meaning of 理, "cut jade", which is no longer the most common meaning of 理 in modern Mandarin.
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartliXm(ə).rəʔ cut jade; regulate
liXm(ə).rəʔ reason; principle

說文解字

《說文》：“理，治玉也。从玉，里聲。”

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)

監 jiān watch carefully Traditional

Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) at his own reflection on a plate (皿).

Components

臣
臣 Iconic component
chén minister

Depicts an eye.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.
皿
皿 Iconic component
mǐn, mǐng dish

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 12 verified)

盐鹽鑑艦藍籃尷鑒濫檻襤覽

Simplified (1)

盐

Meaning (1)

覽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaem[k]ˤram inspect
kaemHkˤram-s mirror

說文解字

《說文》：“監，臨下也。从臥，省聲。，古文監从言。”

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)