親
qīnqìng HSK3

relatives

Phonosemantic compound. 見 represents the meaning and 亲 represents the sound.

Components

亲
亲 Sound component
qīn, qin relatives
見
見 Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshin[tsʰ]i[n] close; parents

說文解字

《說文》:“親,至也。从見,亲聲。”

Sources

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

亲 qīn, qin relatives Simplified

Original meaning: chestnut tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 辛 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chestnut". This character was repurposed during character simplification as the simplified form of 親.

Components

辛
辛 Sound component
xīn laborious
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
Change in meaning
木 hints at the original meaning of 亲, "chestnut tree", which is no longer the most common meaning of 亲 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

說文解字

《說文》:“𣓀,果實如小栗。从木,辛聲。《春秋傳》曰:‘女摯不過栗。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica