群众外包
qún​zhòng​wài​bāo

crowdsourcing

群 qún group, flock

Phonosemantic compound. 羊 represents the meaning and 君 represents the sound.

Components

君
君 Sound component
jūn ruler
羊
羊 Meaning component
yáng sheep

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjun[g]ur flock, herd, group

說文解字

《說文》：“羣，輩也。从羊，君聲。”

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)

众 zhòng crowd, people Simplified

Triple of 人 (person). Depicts many people together. Simplified form of 眾.

Components

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

閦

Sources

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

外 wài outside

Phonosemantic compound. 卜 represents the meaning and 月 represents the sound.

Components

卜
卜 Iconic component
bo fortune telling

Depicts the cracks on the outside of a turtle shell.

月
月 Sound component
yuè, yue moon

Looks like 夕, which is also a pictograph of a moon.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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-SagartngwajH[ŋ]ʷˤa[t]-s outside

說文解字

《說文》：“外，遠也。卜尚平旦，今夕卜，於事外矣。，古文外。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.555-556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)

包 bāo wrap

Original meaning: to embrace

Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as 抱. The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".

Components

勹
勹 SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person hugging. 勹 also represents the sound.

子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child. Modern form looks like 巳.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 24 verified)

跑炮抱胞饱泡鲍袍咆刨苞雹疱庖孢龅匏狍飑飽砲皰鮑齙

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

袍苞飑

Iconic (1)

抱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaewpˤ<r>u wrap, bundle

說文解字

《說文》：“包，象人褢妊，巳在中，象子未成形也。”

Sources

Character origin
谢明文《释甲骨文中的“抱”——兼论“包”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

眾 zhòng crowd, people Traditional

Depicts a crowd of people (乑) standing under the sun (日).

Components

日
日 Iconic component
rì sun

Later reanalyzed as 目 (eye).

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 日 than it was in ancient scripts.
乑
乑 Iconic component
zhòng, yín, pān people standing side-by-side

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyuwngHtuŋ-s numerous

說文解字

《說文》：“眾，多也，从、目，眾意。”

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)