lǎo​huáng​lì

obsolete practice

lǎo old

Pictograph of an old person with long hair bent over and leaning on a cane.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Meaning (1 of 5 verified)

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlawXC.rˤuʔ old

說文解字

《說文》:“老,考也。七十曰老。从人、毛、匕。言須髮變白也。”

Sources

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

huáng royal

Depicts a decorative crown above (king).

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a decorative crown.

SoundMeaning component
wáng king

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 11 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwang[ɢ]ʷˤaŋ yellow and white spotted
hwang[ɢ]ʷˤaŋ sovereign

說文解字

《說文》:“皇,大也。从自,自,始也,始皇者,三皇大君也。自,讀若鼻,今俗以始生子為鼻子。”

Sources

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

history Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Simplified component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

Simplified shorthand of the traditional component.

Sound component
lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Sources

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

calendar Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
calendar
Meaning component
sun

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlek[r]ˤek calculate (astronomically)

說文解字

《說文新附》:“曆,厤象也。从日,厤聲。《史記》通用歷。”

Sources

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