闲在
xián​zai

leisurely

闲 xián fence Simplified

A wooden fence 木 with a door 门

Components

门
门 Meaning component
mén, men door
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

娴痫鹇

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

在 zài be at

Composed of 才 and 士, which both represent the sound.

Components

才
才 Sound component
cái, cai talent
士
士 Sound component
shì, shi scholar, soldier

Modern form looks like 土, but is unrelated.

Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

茬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzojX[dz]ˤəʔ be at, be present

說文解字

《說文》：“在，存也。从土，才聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.908
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

閑 xián fence Traditional

A wooden fence 木 with a door 門

Components

門
門 Meaning component
mén, men door
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

嫻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthɛnN-kˤre[n]idle
hɛn[ɡ]ˤra[n]great; large-minded; well-trained; bar, barrier
Zhengzhangɡreːn
Unicodehɛn

說文解字

闌也。从門中有木。

Sources

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