花旗参
huā​qí​shēn

American ginseng

花 huā, hua flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 化 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

化
化 Sound component
huà change

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)

Sources

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

旗 qí banner

Phonosemantic compound. 㫃 represents the meaning and 其 represents the sound.

Components

㫃
㫃 Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
其
其 Sound component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgi[g](r)ə flag

說文解字

《說文》：“旗，熊旗五游，以象罰星，士卒以為期。从，其聲。《周禮》曰：‘率都建旗。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

参 cān, shēn take part in Simplified

Original meaning: Three Stars constellation

Simplified form of 參. Depicts three (三) stars (晶) shining (光). Originally represented the Three Stars constellation (參) in Chinese astronomy. The more common meaning "take part in" is a phonetic loan.

Components

晶
晶 IconicSimplified component
jīng bright, crystal

Depicts three stars joined together

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 晶 than it was in ancient scripts.
光
光 IconicRemnant component
guāng light
三
三 SoundMeaning component
sān three

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

惨渗掺碜糁骖毵黪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodechrim
shrim
tsom

Sources

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

參 cān, shēn take part in Traditional

Original meaning: Three Stars constellation

Depicts three (三) stars (晶) shining (光). Originally represented the Three Stars constellation (參) in Chinese astronomy. The more common meaning "take part in" is a phonetic loan.

Components

晶
晶 Iconic component
jīng bright, crystal
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 晶 than it was in ancient scripts.
光
光 IconicRemnant component
guāng light
三
三 SoundMeaning component
sān three

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

摻慘滲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshomr̥ˤəʔaccumulate
tsrhim[tsʰr][u]m 參差 tsrhim.tsrhje uneven
sams.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?)three
srimsrum (should be *s.rum)the constellation Orion’ (named for the three stars in Orion’s belt)

說文解字

《說文》：“曑，商星也。从晶，聲。參，曑或省。”

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)