Duān​wǔ

Dragon Boat Festival

duān end, hold with both hands

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
stand
Sound component
duān, zhuān tip, start, extremity

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttwantˤor tip (n.)

說文解字

《說文》:“端,直也。从立,耑聲。”

Sources

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

wǔ, wu noon

Original meaning: pestle

Pictograph of a pestle used for pounding rice, now written as . The current meaning "noon" 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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

Iconic (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnguX[m].qʰˤaʔ 7th earthly branch
nguXm-qʰˤaʔ resist; cross-wise

說文解字

《說文》:“午,啎也。五月陰氣午逆陽,冒地而出。此予矢同意。”

Sources

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