ruǎn, yuán ancient musical instrument: surname

Components

Unknown component
hill, place
Sound component
yuán first

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋon
ŋonʔ
Unicodengiuæ̌n

說文解字

代郡五阮關也。从𨸏元聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xián all

Original meaning: massacre

Depicts a massacre with a weapon (), based on the original meaning "massacre". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 (5 of 11 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartheam[g]ˤr[ə]m all; everywhere

說文解字

《說文》:“咸,皆也,悉也。从口,从戌。戌,悉也。”

Sources

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