讯息 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xùn inquire Simplified

Simplified form of 訊. Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

Components

讠 Iconic component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言. Originally 口 (mouth). Later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

卂 Sound Iconic component

xùn to fly rapidly

Depicts a captive prisoner with their hands tied behind their back.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

xi, xī breathe, rest

Depicts a breath of air going into the nose (自). The lines representing breath were later reanalyzed as 心 (heart).

Components

自 Iconic component

zì (nose), self

自 was the original form of 鼻 (bí; nose).

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Originally lines depicting breath. Later reanalyzed as 心 (heart).

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

媳熄螅瘜

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

熄

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sik	sək	breathe
	sik	sək	安息 Ānxī (Iranian country in the western regions, W. Hàn; from Aršaka = Arsaces, founder of the Arsacid dynasty)

說文解字

《說文》：“息，喘也。从心，从自，自亦聲。”

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)

xùn inquire Traditional

Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 言 (speech).