隽材
juàn​cái

outstanding talent

隽 juàn, jùn, zuì superior Simplified

Original meaning: to shoot and kill wild birds

Simplified form of 雋. Depicts a bow (弓) aiming at a bird (隹). Based on the original meaning "to shoot and kill wild birds". The meaning later shifted to "superior" and "outstanding".

Components

隹
隹 Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
弓
弓 Iconic component
gōng bow

Modern form looks like unrelated 乃.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 弓 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

携镌

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

槜

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzonʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

材 cái, cai material

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
才
才 Sound component
cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzoj[dz]ˤə timber

說文解字

《說文》：“材，木梃也。从木，才聲。”

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)

雋 superior Traditional

Original meaning: to shoot and kill wild birds

Depicts a bow (弓) aiming at a bird (隹). Based on the original meaning "to shoot and kill wild birds". The meaning later shifted to "superior" and "outstanding".

Components

隹
隹 Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
弓
弓 Iconic component
gōng bow

Here turned sideways.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzonʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“雋，肥肉也。从弓所以射隹。長沙有下雋縣。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)