螺线
luó​xiàn

spiral

螺 luó spiral shell

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

累
累 Sound component
lèi, lěi tired

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlwak.rˤojspiral, snail
Zhengzhangroːl

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

线 xiàn thread Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 戋 represents the sound. Simplified form of 線.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

戋
戋 Sound component
jiān, cán small

Sources

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

線 xiàn thread Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 泉 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

泉
泉 Sound component
quán spring

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsqʰeːns
Unicodesiɛ̀n

說文解字

《說文》：“綫，縷也。从糸，戔聲。線，古文綫。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)