Simplified
Components
臣 IconicSimplified component
Depicts an eye.
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 臣 than it was in ancient scripts.
Original meaning: musical tube made of bamboo
Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 官 represents the sound. Originally a musical tube made of bamboo. The meaning "to manage" is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kwanX | [k]ˤo[n]ʔ | tube; flute |
| kwanX | kʷˤa[n]ʔ | exhausted, helpless | |
| kwanX | kʷˤa[n]ʔ | helpless |
說文解字
《說文》：“管，如箎，六孔，十二月之音，物開地牙，故謂之管。从竹，官聲。琯，古者玉琯以玉。舜之時，西王母來獻其白琯。前零陵文學姓奚，於伶道舜祠下得笙玉琯。夫以玉作音，故神人以和，鳳皇來儀也。从玉，官聲。”
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)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | kaem | [k]ˤram | inspect |
| kaemH | kˤram-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)