耀武扬威
yào​wǔ​yáng​wēi

brandish power

耀 yào shine

Phonosemantic compound. 光 represents the meaning and 翟 represents the sound.

Components

光
光 Meaning component
guāng light
翟
翟 Sound component
dí, zhái a kind of pheasant
Change in sound

Component uses

Sound (1)

曜

Meaning (1)

曜

Remnant (1)

曜

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyewHlewk-s shine

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

武 wǔ military

Depicts marching (止) with a weapon (戈).

Components

戈
戈 Iconic component
gē spear
止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.


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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

赋鹉賦鵡

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

赋賦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

斌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuXm(r)aʔ military

說文解字

《說文》：“武，楚莊王曰：夫武，定功戢兵。故止戈為武。”

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)

扬 yáng raise, praise Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 𠃓 represents the sound. Simplified form of 揚.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

𠃓
𠃓 Sound component
yáng bright

Sources

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

威 wēi power

Depicts a weapon (戌) used to force a woman (女) into submission.

Components

戌
戌 Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

崴葳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jw+jʔuj awe-inspiring

說文解字

《說文》：“威，姑也。从女，从戌。《漢律》曰：‘婦告威姑。’”

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)

揚 yáng raise, praise Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 昜 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

昜
昜 Sound component
yáng bright

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartyanglaŋ raise

說文解字

《說文》：“揚，飛舉也。从手，易聲。，古文。”

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)