陶渊明
Táo Yuān​míng

Tao Yuanming

陶 táo pottery

A mound 阝 of clay 匋; 匋 also provides the pronunciation

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place
匋
匋 SoundMeaning component
táo, yáo pottery

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbl'uː
luː
Unicodedhɑu

說文解字

再成丘也，在濟陰。从𨸏匋聲。《夏書》曰：“東至于陶丘。”陶丘有堯城，堯嘗所居，故堯號陶唐氏。

Sources

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

渊 yuān gulf Simplified

Simplified form of 淵. Originally written as 𣶒, which depicted water inside of a deep pool. The left 氵 (water) component was added later.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𣶒
𣶒 SoundIconicSimplified component
yuān deep pool

Pictograph of water inside of a deep pool.

Sources

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

明 míng, ming bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight (月) shining through a window (囧). The 囧 component was later reanalyzed as 日 (sun).

Components

囧
囧 SoundIconic component
jiǒng bright window

The modern form looks similar to 日 (sun).

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 囧 than it was in ancient scripts.
月
月 Iconic component
yuè, yue moon

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

盟萌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjaengmraŋ bright

說文解字

《說文》：“朙，照也。从月，从囧。明，古文朙，从日。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.551-552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)

淵 gulf Traditional

Originally written as 𣶒, which depicted water inside of a deep pool. The left 氵 (water) component was added later.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𣶒
𣶒 SoundIconic component
yuān deep pool

Pictograph of water inside of a deep pool.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'wen[ʔ]ʷˤi[ŋ] abyss

說文解字

《說文》：“淵，回水也。从水，象形，左右岸也，中象水皃。，淵或省水。囦，古文从囗、水。”

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)