警衔
jǐng​xián

police rank

警 jǐng warn

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 敬 represents the sound.

Components

敬
敬 Sound component
jìng respect
言
言 Meaning component
yán speech

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaengXkreŋʔ warn, admonish

說文解字

戒也。从言从敬，敬亦聲。

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)

衔 xián bit Simplified

Components

行
行 Sound component
xíng, háng walk
钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

銜 xián bit Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 金 represents the meaning and 行 represents the sound.

Components

金
金 Meaning component
jīn metal
行
行 Sound component
xíng, háng walk

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthaem[g]ˤr[a]m a bit

說文解字

《說文》：“銜，馬勒口中。从金，从行。銜，行馬者也。”

Sources

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