Hán Xìn

Han Xin

hán Korea Simplified

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fence surrounding a well". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
Meaning component
wéi, huí tanned leather

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

井垣也。从韋,取其帀也。幹聲。又國名。

Sources

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

xìn trust

Conveys trusting () what a person () says (). is also a sound component.

Components

SoundMeaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

Change in sound
Meaning component
yán speech

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsinHs-ni[ŋ]-s truthful

說文解字

《說文》:“信,誠也。从人,从言,會意。,古文从言省。訃,古文信。”

Sources

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

Korea Traditional

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fence surrounding a well". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "fence surrounding a well", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthan[g]ˤar (state in the Korean peninsula; Three Kingdoms period)

說文解字

《說文》:“,井垣也。从韋,取其帀也,倝聲。”

Sources

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