miàn​xiàng​lián​jiē

connection-oriented

miàn, mian face

Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye () in the middle. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the outline of a face.

Iconic component
eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjienHC.me[n]-s face

說文解字

《說文》:“面,顏前也。从,象人面形。”

Sources

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

xiàng toward Simplified

Depicts a mouth () in a closed space () making an echo sound. Based on the original meaning "echo; sound", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "direction" and "toward".

Components

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 6 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjangHn̥aŋ-s window facing North; turn towards

說文解字

《說文》:“向,北出牖也。从宀,从口。”

Sources

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

lián connect, join, link Simplified

Depicts a carriage () being pulled by a person walking (). Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

jiē receive

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

Sound component
qiè concubine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjep[ts][a]p connect

說文解字

《說文》:“接,交也。从手,妾聲。”

Sources

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

xiàng, xiǎng guide Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and represents the meaning.

Components

Sound component
xiāng hometown
SoundMeaning component
xiàng toward

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjangHqʰaŋ-s to face, approach

Sources

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

lián connect, join, link Traditional

Depicts a carriage () being pulled by a person walking ().

Components

Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljenC.ra[n] [surname]
ljen[r]a[n] connect in a row

說文解字

員連也。从辵从車。

Sources

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