瞒天大谎
mán​tiān​dà​huǎng

whopper

瞒 mán deceive Simplified

Components

目
目 Meaning component
mù eye

eye

艹
艹 Unknown component
cao, cǎo grass
两
两 Unknown component
liǎng two

說文解字

平目也。从目㒼聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

天 tiān, tian sky

Original meaning: head

Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a head.

大
大 Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

吞蚕忝祆

Iconic (1)

吴

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

昊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthenl̥ˤi[n] heaven
xenl̥ˤi[n] (W dialect: l̥ˤ- > Hàn-time *xˤ- > MC x-)heaven

說文解字

《說文》：“天，顛也。至高无上，从一、大。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.40-41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)

大 dà, dài big

Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (9 of 21 verified)

去太奇套尖奈赤契夸奎奢奕叁奘夯奁夼尜奩奓𢧤

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業

Sound (6 of 11 verified)

太达夺泰驮耷奪馱忕羍旲

Simplified (4)

类奖奋庆

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

爨䙴

Deleted (1)

业

Remnant (1)

椉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdaHlˤat-s (MC F!)big
dajHlˤa[t]-s big

說文解字

《說文》：“大，天大、地大、人亦大，故大象人形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.764
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

谎 huǎng lie Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 荒 represents the sound. Simplified form of 謊.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

荒
荒 Sound component
huāng wasteland

Sources

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

瞞 mán deceive Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 㒼 represents the sound.

Components

目
目 Meaning component
mù eye
㒼
㒼 Sound component
mán equal

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmanmˤ[o][r]be deceived
Zhengzhangmoːn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

謊 huǎng lie Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 荒 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
荒
荒 Sound component
huāng wasteland

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanghmaːŋʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang