董仲舒 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

dǒng, zhǒng supervise

Original meaning: type of plant

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

Components

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

Change in meaning

艹 hints at the original meaning of 董, "type of plant", which is no longer the most common meaning of 董 in modern Mandarin.

重 Sound component

zhòng, chóng heavy

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

懂

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		toːŋʔ
Unicode	dǔng

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica

zhòng middle brother

The middle 中 person 亻; 中 also provides the pronunciation

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

中 Sound Meaning component

zhōng, zhòng central

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	drjuwngH	N-truŋ-s	middle (of brothers)
Zhengzhang		duŋs
Unicode	djhiùng
	djhiùng

說文解字

中也。从人从中，中亦聲。

Sources

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

shū relax

Phonosemantic compound. 舍 represents the meaning and 予 represents the sound.

Components

舍 Meaning component

shě, shè residence

予 Sound component

yǔ give

Change in sound

舒 and 予 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
舒 *l̥a
予 *laʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syo	l̥a	slow, easy

說文解字

《說文》：“舒，伸也。从舍，从予，予亦聲。一曰：舒，緩也。”

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)

董 dǒng, zhǒng supervise

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

仲 zhòng middle brother

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

舒 shū relax

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

dǒng, zhǒng supervise

zhòng middle brother

shū relax