bān sort

Original meaning: tray

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

Components

SoundIconic component
fán all

Pictograph of a tray. Later corrupted to .

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)

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

huán variety of tree

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tree
Sound component
gèn, xuān, gèng turn around, turn back

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwan[ɢ]ʷˤarpillar; martial-looking
hwanɦʷˤar (< *[ɢ]ʷˤar)烏桓 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn)
Zhengzhangɡʷaːn
Unicodehuɑn

說文解字

亭郵表也。从木亘聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica