稳中求进
wěn​zhōng​qiú​jìn

steady progress

稳 wěn settled, stable Simplified

Simplified form of 穩. Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 㥯 represents the sound.

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

grain

急
急 Simplified component
jí urgent

Shorthand for the phonetic 㥯 component in the traditional character 穩.

Sources

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

中 zhōng, zhòng central

Depicts a flagpole. There is a circle in the middle marking the center of the flagpole. In older forms of the character, the flagpole has streamers at the top and bottom used to show the direction of the wind.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

种冲钟忠仲肿衷忡盅舯沖

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

仲衷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjuwngtruŋ center
trjuwngHtruŋ-s hit the center

說文解字

《說文》：“中，內也。从口、丨，上下通。，古文中。，籀文中。”

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)

求 qiú seek

Pictograph of a crawling insect. The current meaning "seek" or "beg" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

球救裘俅逑赇捄

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

赇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjuw[g](r)u seek

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

进 jìn advance Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 井 represents the sound. Simplified form of 進.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

井
井 SoundSimplified component
jǐng well

Simplified from 隹 in the traditional character 進.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

穩 wěn settled, stable Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 㥯 represents the sound.

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
㥯
㥯 Sound component
yǐn careful

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqʷɯːnʔ
Unicodequə̌n

說文解字

《說文新附》：“穩，蹂穀聚也。一曰安也。从禾，隱省。古通用安隱。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

進 jìn go forward Traditional

辶 represents the meaning and 隹 depicts a bird, which is unable to walk backwards.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

隹
隹 Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Used here because birds are not able to walk backwards.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsinH[ts][i][n]-s advance (v.)

說文解字

登也。从辵，閵省聲。

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)