辈分
bèi​fen

seniority

辈 bèi generation, lifetime Simplified

Original meaning: large group of chariots

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "large group of chariots". The meaning later shifted to "group of things" and "generation". Simplified form of 輩.

Components

非
非 Sound component
fēi not
车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
车 hints at the original meaning of 辈, "large group of chariots", which is no longer the most common meaning of 辈 in modern Mandarin.

Sources

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

分 fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife (刀) being used to cut two things apart (八).

Components

八
八 SoundIconic component
bā eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound
刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

份纷贫粉芬扮氛盆盼吩颁忿汾酚玢棼邠坌貧鼢紛頒棻

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

贫颁岔掰貧頒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjunpə[n] divide
bjunH[m]-pə[n]-s alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”

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)

輩 bèi generation, lifetime Traditional

Original meaning: large group of chariots

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "large group of chariots". The meaning later shifted to "group of things" and "generation".

Components

非
非 Sound component
fēi not
車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Change in meaning
車 hints at the original meaning of 輩, "large group of chariots", which is no longer the most common meaning of 輩 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpuːls
Unicodebə̀i

說文解字

《說文》：“輩，若軍發車百兩為一輩。从車，非聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)