羌族
Qiāng​zú

Qiang people

羌 qiāng Qiang nationality

Pictograph of a person (人) wearing an ornament resembling sheep horns (羊). Alludes to the Qiang people, who are known for their lifestyle with sheep. 羊 also represents the sound. Similar in origin to 美.

Components

羊
羊 SoundIconic component
yáng sheep

Depicts an ornament resembling sheep horns.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

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
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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蜣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjangC.qʰaŋ western tribes

說文解字

《說文》：“羌，西戎牧羊人也。从人，从羊，羊亦聲。南方蠻閩从虫，北方狄从犬，東方貉从豸，西方羌从羊，此六種也。西南人、僬僥从人，蓋在坤地，頗有順理之性。唯東夷从大，大，人也。夷俗仁，仁者壽，有君子不死之國。孔子曰：‘道不行，欲之九夷，乘桴浮於海，有以也。’，古文羌如此。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.300Wikipedia
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

族 zú clan, tribe, race

Depicts a flag (㫃) representing a clan and an arrow (矢) representing their military power.

Components

㫃
㫃 Iconic component
yǎn flags flying
矢
矢 Iconic component
shǐ arrow

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 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 3 verified)

簇镞蔟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzuwk[dz]ˤok clan

說文解字

《說文》：“族，矢鋒也，束之族族也。从，从矢。”

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)