biànbiǎn

distinguish

Depicts a hand () feeling for something in the sand ().

Components

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
shǎo, shao, shào few

Used here to depict grains of sand.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

Sound (2)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbeanH[b]ˤre[n]-s discriminate

說文解字

《說文》:“釆,辨別也。象獸指爪分別也。讀若辨。,古文釆。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.88-89黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2801
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica