能量守恒 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

néng to be able

Original meaning: bear

Pictograph of a bear. Based on the original meaning "bear". The meaning of this character has shifted over time to mean "strong" and "ability, power". Original form of 熊.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Iconic (2)

熊罷

Sound (1)

態

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	noj	nˤə	a kind of bear
	nong	nˤə(ŋ)	a kind of bear
	nong	nˤə(ʔ) (~ *nˤəŋ)	able; ability

說文解字

《說文》：“能，熊屬，足似鹿。从肉，聲。能獸堅中，故稱賢能，而彊壯稱能傑也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.752
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

liàng, liang, liáng measure

Phonosemantic compound. 東 (pictograph of a bag) represents the meaning and 昜 represents the sound.

Components

昜 Sound Remnant component

yáng bright

Modern form written like 旦.

Change in form

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

東 Iconic Remnant component

dōng east

Depicts a bag. Modern form written like 里.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

糧

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljang	[r]aŋ	measure (v.)
	ljangH	[r]aŋ-s	measure (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“量，稱輕重也。从重省，曏省聲。，古文量。”

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)

shǒu defend

Depicts a hand (寸) guarding a building (宀).

Components

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

寸 Iconic component

cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

狩

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syuwX	s-tuʔ	keep, guard
	syuwH	s.tuʔ-s	territory in somebody's guard, fief

說文解字

《說文》：“守，守官也。从宀，从寸。寺府之事者。从寸，寸，法度也。”

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)

héng variant of 恆|恒[héng] Simplified

A constant 亘 heart 忄; 亘 also provides the pronunciation

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

亘 Sound Meaning component

gèn, xuān, gèng turn around, turn back

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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說文解字

常也。从心从舟，在二之閒上下。心以舟施，恆也。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

héng constant Traditional

A constant 亙 heart 忄; 亙 also provides the pronunciation

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

亙 Sound Meaning component

gèn, gèng extend across, constant

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hong	[ɡ]ˤəŋ	constant
Zhengzhang		ɡɯːŋ
Unicode	həng

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica

能 néng to be able

Character Evolution

Component uses

Iconic (2)

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

量 liàng, liang, liáng measure

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

守 shǒu defend

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

恒 héng variant of 恆|恒[héng] Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

說文解字

Sources

恆 héng constant Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

néng to be able

liàng, liang, liáng measure

shǒu defend

héng variant of 恆|恒[héng] Simplified

héng constant Traditional