陷于瘫痪
xiàn​yú​tān​huàn

paralyzed

陷 xiàn submerge

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 臽 represents the sound.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

臽
臽 SoundIconic component
xiàn a pit

Depicts a person (人) falling into a pit or a trap (凵).

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
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
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartheamH[ɢ]ˤromʔ-s fall into a pit

說文解字

《說文》：“陷，高下也。一曰陊也。从，从臽，臽亦聲。”

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)

于 yú at Simplified

Original meaning: wind instrument

Pictograph of a musical wind instrument with a reed, which is now written as 竽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 (3 of 13 verified)

宇污吁迂盂芋圩竽纡盱邘玗紆

Iconic (1)

竽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjuɢʷ(r)a go; at
hjuɦʷa (< *ɢʷ(r)a)單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“于，於也。象气之舒于。从丂，从一。一者，其气平之也。”

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)

瘫 tān paralysis Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 难 represents the sound. Simplified form of 癱.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
难
难 Sound component
nán, nan, nàn difficult

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

痪 huàn, tuǎn paralysis Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 奂 represents the sound. Simplified form of 瘓.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
奂
奂 Sound component
huàn be numerous

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

於 yū, wū in Traditional

Originally a variant form of 烏, which is a pictograph of a crow. The current use as a function word is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

淤瘀阏菸閼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'u[ʔ]ˤa oh!
'jo[ʔ]a at (locative preposition)

說文解字

《說文》：“烏，孝鳥也。象形。孔子曰：‘烏，呼也。’取其助气，故以為烏呼。，古文烏，象形。於，象古文烏省。”

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)

癱 paralysis Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 難 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
難
難 Sound component
nán, nan, nàn difficult

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangn̥ʰaːn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

瘓 paralysis Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 奐 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
奐
奐 Sound component
be numerous

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtqʰʷaːnʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang