盛夏
shèng​xià

midsummer

盛 shèng, chéng abundant

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

Components

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Depicts a full container.

成
成 Sound component
chéng, cheng completed

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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-Sagartdzyeng[d]eŋ put in (a receptacle)
dzyengH[d]eŋ-s full, abundant

說文解字

《說文》：“盛，黍稷在器中以祀者也。从皿，成聲。”

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)

夏 xià summer

Pictograph of a person, represented by their head (頁) and feet (夂), being heated underneath the sun (日). The sun component was later omitted for brevity during the Warring States period.

Components

日
日 Deleted component
rì sun

The sun (日) component began to be omitted for brevity during the Warring States period.

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

夂
夂 Iconic component
zhǐ, zhōng go

Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 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 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

厦嗄廈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthaeX[ɢ]ˤraʔ great
haeH[g]ˤraʔ
(~ *[g]ˤraʔ-s)		summer

說文解字

《說文》：“夏，中國之人也。从夊、从頁、从。，兩手；夊，兩足也。，古文（夏）。”

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)