童心未泯
tóng​xīn​wèi​mǐn

childlike

童 tóng child

Original meaning: male criminal

Depicts a tool (辛) piercing through a person's eye (目). This was usually given as punishment to criminals. 東 was added later to represent the sound. Based on the original meaning "male criminal". The meaning later shifted to "boy servant" (now written as 僮) and "child".

Components

辛
辛 Iconic component
xīn laborious

Depicts a tool for torture.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 辛 than it was in ancient scripts.
目
目 Iconic component
mù eye
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 目 than it was in ancient scripts.
東
東 Sound component
dōng east

Modern form looks like 里.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 東 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

撞幢憧瞳潼僮疃艟鐘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwng[d]ˤoŋ boy

說文解字

《說文》：“童，男有辠曰奴，奴曰童。女曰妾。从，重省聲。，籀文童，中與中同从。，以為古文疾字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.166漢語多功能字庫陳靖《兩周古文字編注》p.855
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

心 xīn, xin heart

Pictograph of a human's heart.

Character Evolution

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 Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (41 of 94 verified)

想意应感思怎念态志愿急您恶恩恐忽忘忍怒悲患愈忠悉恋慈慧惠惑慰怨惩闷悬愚忌悠愁恳惹恕芯惫怠憋忒忿怂憨恙恿恚恣忐忑懋憩懑怼恁愆愍戆悫慝恧憝恝悶忞懸慾㥯惡慼態憂憑應懣恥懇寍戇戀慶慫惪愛憊懲憲愬懟

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

芯沁吣

Simplified (2)

应虑

Iconic (2)

怱悤

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsimsəm heart

說文解字

《說文》：“心，人心。土藏，在身之中。象形。博士說以為火藏。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.787
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

未 wèi not yet

Original meaning: tree trunk

Similar to 木 (tree), with extra branches added. Based on the original meaning "tree trunk", now written as 枚. The current meaning 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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 5 verified)

味妹昧魅寐

Iconic (1)

制

Meaning (1)

魅

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmj+jHm[ə]t-s not yet
mj+jHm[ə]t-s 8th earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》：“未，味也，六月滋味也。五行，木老於未，象木重枝葉也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.981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)

泯 mǐn, miàn destroy

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 民 represents the sound. Simplified form of 冺.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

民
民 Sound component
mín people

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjinmi[n]destroy
Zhengzhangmin
minʔ
Unicodemǐn

說文解字

滅也。从水民聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)