韩国
Hán​guó

South Korea

韩 hán Korea Simplified

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

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

Components

倝
倝 SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
韦
韦 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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

国 guó nation Simplified

Simplified form of 國. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
玉
玉 SoundSimplified component
yù jade

Shorthand for the 或 component in the traditional character 國.

Change in sound

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

帼蝈掴

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

韓 Korea Traditional

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

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

Components

倝
倝 SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
韋
韋 Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather
Change in meaning
韋 hints at the original meaning of 韓, "fence surrounding a well", which is no longer the most common meaning of 韓 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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

國 guó nation Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
或
或 Sound component
huò or

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

膕幗蟈摑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwok[C.q]ʷˤək state (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“國，邦也。从囗，从或。”

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)