说真的 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shuō speak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

zhēn real

Original meaning: precious

Based on the original meaning "precious", now written as 珍. The meaning later shifted to "genuine" and "true".

Components

𠂈 Sound component

diān, tiǎn to fall forwards

Based on an ancient variant of 殄.

Change in sound

真 and 𠂈 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
真 *ti[n]
𠂈 *[d]ˤə[n]ʔ

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠂈 than it was in ancient scripts.

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were considered precious and were used as currency.

丁 Sound component

dīng cubes

Change in sound

真 and 丁 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
真 *ti[n]
丁 *tˤeŋ

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丁 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

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

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (7 of 15 verified)

镇慎填颠滇嗔缜稹瞋鎮禛顛瑱鬒縝

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyin	ti[n]	true, real

說文解字

《說文》：“真，僊人變形而登天也。从，从目，从。八，所乘載也。，古文真。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.643-644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)

de, dì, dí [possessive]

Original meaning: bright

Phonosemantic compound. 白 represents the meaning and 勺 represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bright".

Components

白 Meaning component

bái, bai white

Change in meaning

白 hints at the original meaning of 的, "bright", which is no longer the most common meaning of 的 in modern Mandarin.

勺 Sound component

sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon

Change in sound

的 and 勺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
的 *[t-l]ˤewk
勺 *m-tewk

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tek	[t-l]ˤewk	bright; mark in a target

說文解字

《說文》：“旳，明也。从日，勺聲。《易》曰：‘為的顙。’”

Sources

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

shuō speak Traditional

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

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

说 shuō speak Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

真 zhēn real

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (7 of 15 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

的 de, dì, dí [possessive]

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

shuō speak Simplified

zhēn real

de, dì, dí [possessive]

shuō speak Traditional