较量
jiào​liàng HSK7

compete

较 jiào compare Simplified

Original meaning: horizontal beams on a carriage

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 交 represents the sound. Simplified form of 較. Based on the original meaning "horizontal beams on a carriage". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
车 hints at the original meaning of 较, "horizontal beams on a carriage", which is no longer the most common meaning of 较 in modern Mandarin.
交
交 Sound component
jiāo to cross, to mix

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

量 liàng, liang, liáng measure

Phonosemantic compound. 東 (pictograph of a bag) represents the meaning and 昜 represents the sound.

Components

昜
昜 SoundRemnant component
yáng bright

Modern form written like 旦.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 昜 than it was in ancient scripts.
東
東 IconicRemnant component
dōng east

Depicts a bag. Modern form written like 里.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

糧

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljang[r]aŋ measure (v.)
ljangH[r]aŋ-s measure (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“量，稱輕重也。从重省，曏省聲。，古文量。”

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)

較 jiào compare Traditional

Original meaning: horizontal beams on a carriage

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 交 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "horizontal beams on a carriage". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
車 hints at the original meaning of 較, "horizontal beams on a carriage", which is no longer the most common meaning of 較 in modern Mandarin.
交
交 Sound component
jiāo to cross, to mix

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkreːwɢs
kreːwɢ
Unicodegàu

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang