hú​tòng​r HSK5

alley

beard

Original meaning: flesh under the chin of a cow

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flesh under the chin of a cow", which later shifted to "beard" (now written as in traditional characters). Also used pejoratively to refer to foreigners from central Asia, who tended to have more beards than Han Chinese people. This meaning also shifted to "reckless" and "outrageous".

Components

Sound component
old
Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "flesh under the chin of a cow", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 13 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthu[g]ˤa foreigners in the north

說文解字

《說文》:“胡,牛垂也。从肉,古聲。”

Sources

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

tóng, tong, tòng together

Depicts a large object () like a shoulder carriage that requires the cooperation of multiple people working together to carry.

Components

Iconic component
fán all

Depicts a large object like a shoulder carriage.

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Alludes to people speaking together to communicate.

Character Evolution

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 Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwnglˤoŋ together, join

說文解字

《說文》:“同,合會也。从,从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.614
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

r, ér child Simplified

Simplified form of . Variant form of , a pictograph of a human.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Simplified (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

說文解字

《說文》:“儿,仁人也。古文奇字人也。象形。孔子曰:在人下,故詰屈。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

r, ér son Traditional

Pictograph of a child () with an opening in the top of its head (). Represents the soft spot (fontanel) at the top of young infant heads. The component is written like .

Components

Iconic component
xìn fontanel

Depicts the gap between the bones in an infant skull.

Iconic component
rén, ren person

Depicts a human.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyeŋe child

說文解字

《說文》:“兒,孺子也。从儿,象小兒頭囟未合。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.687
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica