针眼 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zhēnyǎnzhēnyan

needle eye

zhēn needle Simplified

Simplified form of 針. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound.

Components

钅 Meaning component

jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

十 Sound component

shí ten

Change in sound

针 and 十 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
针 *t.[k]əm
十 *t.[g]əp

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

目 Meaning component

mù eye

艮 Sound component

gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ngonX	ŋˤə[n]ʔ	protrude as a knob
	ngeanX	[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ	eye

說文解字

《說文》：“眼，目也。从目，聲。”

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)

zhēn needle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound.

Components

釒 Meaning component

jīn metal

十 Sound component

shí ten

Change in sound

針 and 十 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
針 *t.[k]əm
十 *t.[g]əp

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyim	t.[k]əm	needle

Sources

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

针 zhēn needle Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

眼 yǎn eye

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

針 zhēn needle Traditional

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

zhēn needle Simplified

yǎn eye

zhēn needle Traditional