fán​zhēng​bó​yǐn

cite extensively

fán complicated

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
mì, sī silk
Sound component
mǐn fast

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjon[b]ar abundant, numerous

說文解字

《說文》:“,馬髦飾也。从糸,每聲。《春秋傳》曰:‘可以稱旌乎。’或从。,籀文弁。”

Sources

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

zhēng journey Simplified

Originally written as . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "invade", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

SoundIconic component
zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct

Depicts a foot walking towards a city.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyengteŋ to correct; to go on a punitive expedition

說文解字

《說文》:“,正行也。从辵,正聲。征,或从彳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.121
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

plentiful, gamble

Original meaning: fight

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fight", which later shifted to "win", "plentiful", and "gamble".

Components

Meaning component
dùn shield

Depicts a shield. Modern form looks like .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "fight", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Sound component
fū, bù, fǔ state, announce
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpakpˤak broad

說文解字

《說文》:“博,大,通也。从十,从尃。尃,布也。”

Sources

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

yǐn to pull

Pictograph of a bowstring being pulled back.

Components

Iconic component
gōng bow
Iconic component
gǔn, shù vertical line

Depicts a bowstring being pulled back.


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 Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyinXli[n]ʔ draw the bow
yinHli[n]ʔ-s draw the bow

說文解字

《說文》:“引,開弓也。从弓、丨。”

Sources

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

zhēng, zhǐ, chéng invade Traditional

Original meaning: to punish

Originally written as 𱖔, which depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back. The components (walk) and (tap) were added later to indicate movement and action. Based on the original meaning "to punish". The meaning later shifted to "invade", "to summon" and "to recruit" while its other meaning used as a musical note is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of . Here used to indicate movement.

𱖔
𱖔 Iconic component
to punish

Depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back.

Meaning component
tap

is a component form of . Used here to indicate action.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttringtrəŋ examine

說文解字

《說文》:“徵,召也。从微省,壬為徵,行於微而文達者即徵之。,古文徵。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica