般
bānbō HSK2

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Original meaning: tray

Phonosemantic compound. 殳 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "tray", now written as 盤/槃. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The original 凡 component was later corrupted to 舟 (boat).

Components

凡
凡 SoundIconic component
fán all

Pictograph of a tray. Later corrupted to 舟.

殳
殳 Meaning component
shū weapon or tool

Depicts a hand holding a weapon or utensil.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

搬磐瘢盤槃

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpraːn
paːn
baːn

說文解字

《說文》：“般，辟也。象舟之旋，从舟，从殳。殳，所以旋也。，古文般从支。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)