难产 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Original meaning: type of bird

Simplified form of 難. Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 難.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

滩摊瘫傩

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

chǎn give birth Simplified

Simplified form of 產. Phonosemantic compound. 生 represents the meaning and 彥 represents the sound. The traditional component 生 was removed for simplification.

Components

彦 Sound Remnant component

yàn, pán elegant

Change in sound

产 and 彦 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
产 *s-ŋrarʔ
彦 ŋrans

生 Deleted component

shēng, sheng life

The traditional component 生 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

铲浐

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of bird". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𦰩 Sound component

jiān to sigh

Change in sound

難 and 𦰩 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

隹 Meaning component

zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

攤儺癱灘

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nan	nˤar	difficult
	nanH	nˤar-s	difficulty

說文解字

《說文》：“，鳥也。从鳥，堇聲。難，或从隹。”

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)

chǎn give birth Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 生 represents the meaning and 彥 represents the sound.

Components

彥 Sound Remnant component

elegant

Change in sound

產 and 彥 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
產 *s-ŋrarʔ
彥 *ŋrar-s

生 Meaning component

shēng, sheng life

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2)

隡剷

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sreanX	s-ŋrarʔ	bear (v.), produce

說文解字

《說文》：“產，生也。从生，彥省聲。”

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)

难 nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Sources

产 chǎn give birth Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

難 nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

產 chǎn give birth Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

nán, nan, nàn difficult Simplified

chǎn give birth Simplified

nán, nan, nàn difficult Traditional

chǎn give birth Traditional