返璞归真 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

fǎn return

To walk 辶 backwards 反; 反 also provides the pronunciation

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

反 Sound Meaning component

fǎn reverse

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjonX	Cə.panʔ	return
Zhengzhang		panʔ
Unicode	biæ̌n

說文解字

還也。从辵从反，反亦聲。《商書》曰：“祖甲返。”

Sources

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

pú unpolished gem

Components

王 Meaning component

wáng king

jade

菐 Sound component

pú (beat against), tedious

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	pʰroːɡ

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang

guī return Simplified

Simplified form of 歸. Phonosemantic compound. 𠂤 represents the sound while 止 and 帚 represent the meaning.

Components

刂 Simplified component

dāo knife

Shorthand for the 𠂤 component in the traditional character 歸.

彐 Simplified component

jì snout

Shorthand for the 帚 component in the traditional character 歸.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

岿

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
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

Regular Modern

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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)

guī return Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 𠂤 represents the sound while 止 and 帚 represent the meaning.

Components

𠂤 Sound component

duī mound

止 Meaning component

zhǐ (foot), stop

帚 Meaning component

zhou broom

Alludes to soldiers sweeping away enemies when returning home victoriously.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjw+j	[k]ʷəj	return (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“歸，女嫁也。从止，从婦省，聲。，籀文，省。”

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)

返 fǎn return

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

璞 pú unpolished gem

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

归 guī return Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

真 zhēn real

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (7 of 15 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

歸 guī return Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

fǎn return

pú unpolished gem

guī return Simplified

zhēn real

guī return Traditional