艰辛 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jiān difficult Simplified

Simplified form of 艱. Originally pictograph of person (卩 or 女) guarding a drum (壴) to report difficulties. Later reanalyzed as a compound of 𦰩 and 艮, which both represent the sound.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 艱.

艮 Sound component

gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Originally written as 壴 but later reanalyzed as 艮 to represent the sound.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

xīn laborious

Original meaning: chisel

Pictograph of a chisel-like tool. The meaning later shifted to "hard" and "laborious".

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

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

Clerical form — Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sin	[s]i[n]	pungent; painful
	sin	si[n]	8th heavenly stem

說文解字

《說文》：“辛，秋時萬物成而孰。金剛味辛，辛痛即泣出。从一，从。，辠也。辛承庚，象人股。”

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)

jiān difficult Traditional

Originally pictograph of person (卩 or 女) guarding a drum (壴) to report difficulties. Later reanalyzed as a compound of 𦰩 and 艮, which both represent the sound.