ròu​wán

meatball

ròu meat

Pictograph of a piece of meat.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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

Component uses

Iconic (5)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuwkk.nuk meat, flesh

說文解字

《說文》:“肉,胾肉。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.338
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

wán small round object

Derived from . Pictograph of a dying animal lying down. The meaning later shifted to "small round object", "pellet" and "pill".

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwan[ɢ]ʷˤar pellet; ball
hwanɦʷˤar (< *[ɢ]ʷˤar)烏丸 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》:“丸,圜,傾側而轉者。从反仄。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.726劉釗《古文字構形學》p.128
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica