赃款
zāng​kuǎn

illicit money

赃 zāng booty Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 庄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 贓.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
庄
庄 Sound component
zhuāng village, farmstead

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

款 kuǎn item, funds

Original meaning: desire to have something

Phonosemantic compound. 柰 represents the sound and 欠 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "desire to have something". The meaning later shifted to "funds" and "item".

Components

柰
柰 Sound component
nài crab-apple tree
Change in sound
欠
欠 Meaning component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient
Change in meaning
欠 hints at the original meaning of 款, "desire to have something", which is no longer the most common meaning of 款 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

窾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰloːnʔ
Unicodekuɑn

說文解字

《說文》：“，意有所欲也。从欠，祟欠省。歀，或从柰。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.768
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

贓 booty Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 臧 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
臧
臧 Sound component
zāng, cáng, zàng good

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsang[ts]ˤaŋstolen goods
Zhengzhangʔsaːŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica