盘问
pán​wèn

interrogate

盘 pán, pan tray Simplified

Simplified form of 盤. Phonosemantic compound. 皿 represents the meaning and 般 represents the sound.

Components

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
舟
舟 Simplified component
zhōu boat

Shorthand for the 般 component in the traditional character 盤.

Sources

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

问 wèn, wen ask (about) Simplified

Simplified form of 問. Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 门 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
门
门 Sound component
mén, men door

Sources

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

盤 pán, pan tray Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 皿 represents the meaning and 般 represents the sound.

Components

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
般
般 Sound component
bān sort

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartban[b]ˤan tray, basin

說文解字

《說文》：“槃，承槃也。从木，般聲。鎜，古文，从金。盤，籀文，从皿。”

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)

問 wèn, wen ask (about) Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 門 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
門
門 Sound component
mén, men door

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjunHC.mu[n]-s ask

說文解字

《說文》：“問，訊也。从口，門聲。”

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)