紧凑
jǐn​còu HSK7

tight

紧 jǐn tense Simplified

Simplified form of 緊. Phonosemantic compound. 臤 represents the sound, while 糸 represents the meaning.

Components

𰀡
𰀡 Sound component
qiān to gouge out an eye
Change in sound
糸
糸 Meaning component
mì, sī silk

Depicts a thread being tightened.

Sources

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

凑 còu piece together Simplified

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

ice

奏
奏 Sound component
zòu memorialize emperor

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰoːs

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

緊 jǐn tense Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 臤 represents the sound, while 糸 represents the meaning.

Components

臤
臤 Sound component
to gouge out an eye
Change in sound
糸
糸 Meaning component
mì, sī silk

Depicts a thread being tightened.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjinXC.qi[n]ʔ (I! no palatalization)tight

說文解字

《說文》：“緊，纏絲急也。从臤，从絲省。”

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)

湊 còu piece together Traditional

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

奏
奏 Sound component
zòu memorialize emperor

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰoːs
Unicodetsòu

說文解字

水上人所會也。从水奏聲。

Sources

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