xīn​láo

toil

xīn laborious

Original meaning: chisel

Pictograph of a chisel-like tool. The meaning later shifted to "hard" and "laborious".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 9 verified)

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

Iconic (2)

Unknown (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsin[s]i[n] pungent; painful
sinsi[n] 8th heavenly stem

說文解字

《說文》:“辛,秋時萬物成而孰。金剛味辛,辛痛即泣出。从一,从。,辠也。辛承庚,象人股。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

láo labor Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes () with only firelight (). Later the (strength, power) component was added.

Components

Simplified component
cao, cǎo grass

Shorthand for the (flame) component in the traditional character .

IconicRemnant component
clothes
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Sources

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

láo labor Traditional

Depicts the hard work of sewing clothes () with only firelight (). Later the (strength, power) component was added.

Components

Iconic component
yán, kài flame
IconicRemnant component
clothes
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlaw[r]ˤaw toil
lawH[r]ˤaw-s to reward for toil

說文解字

《說文》:“勞,劇也。从力,熒省。熒火燒冂,用力者勞。,古文勞从悉。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica