Original meaning: a parasitic vine
Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 冡 represents the sound. Originally the name of a plant, later meanings coincide with the original meaning of 冡 (to cover).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | muwng | mˤoŋ | cover (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“蒙，王女也。从艸，冡聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李學勤 《字源》 p.58
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye (目) in the middle. In simplified Chinese 面 is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 麵.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | mjienH | C.me[n]-s | face |
說文解字
《說文》：“面，顏前也。从，象人面形。”
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)