风流韵事
fēng​liú​yùn​shì

romance

风 fēng wind Simplified

Simplified form of 風. Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
㐅
㐅 Simplified component
wǔ five

Shorthand for the 虫 component in the traditional character 風.

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 10 verified)

飘岚飙飓飕飒飚飑飖飐

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

疯讽枫砜

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

流 liú flow

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 㐬 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

㐬
㐬 SoundIconic component
liú birth

Depicts an upside-down child (子) being born headfirst with amniotic fluid flowing out.

Character Evolution

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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

鎏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljuwru flow (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，水行也。从沝、，，突忽也。流，篆文从水。”

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)

韵 yùn rhyme Simplified

Of equal 匀 tone 音; 匀 also provides the pronunciation

Components

音
音 Meaning component
yīn sound
匀
匀 SoundMeaning component
yún equal

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwinH[m-qʷ]<r>i[n]-s (no pre-Qín exx.)rhyme
Zhengzhangɢʷins

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

事 shì, shi matter

The characters 史 (history), 吏 (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and 事 (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand (又) holding a container for writing utensils. 事 and 史 were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.

Components

◎
◎ Distinguishing component
characterless component

Mark added to distinguish 事 from 史.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for writing utensils.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriH[m-s-]rəʔ-s serve; service, affair

說文解字

《說文》：“事，職也。从史，之省聲。，古文事。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

風 fēng wind Traditional

Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.

Components

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all
鳳
鳳 Remnant component
fèng male phoenix

Abbreviated remnant of 鳳, originally a pictograph of a mythical bird. Later reanalyzed as 虫.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 10 verified)

颼飆颱颻颶颯颭飄嵐颳

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

楓瘋諷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjuwngprəm wind (n.)
pjuwngHprəm-s blow; criticize

說文解字

《說文》：“風，八風也。東方曰明庶風；東南曰清明風；南方曰景風；西南曰涼風；西方曰閶闔風；西北曰不周風；北方曰廣莫風；東北曰融風。風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。从虫，凡聲。凬，古文風。”

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)

韻 rhyme Traditional

Components

音
音 Meaning component
yīn sound
員
員 Sound component
yuán member

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwinH[m-qʷ]<r>i[n]-s (no pre-Qín exx.)harmony; rhyme

說文解字

《說文新附》：“韻，和也。从音，員聲。裴光遠云：‘古與均同。’未知其審。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)