chán gluttonous Simplified

Components

Sound component
shí eat

eat

Unknown component
rabbit

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

xián saliva

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
yán delay

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangljan
lans
Unicodeziɛn

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

desire

Phonosemantic compound. , depicting a person with an open mouth, represents the meaning, while represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person with an open mouth.

Sound component
valley, ravine

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyowkɢ(r)ok desire (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“欲,貪欲也。从欠,谷聲。”

Sources

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

chuí droop

Original meaning: borderland

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𠂹 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "borderland", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𠂹
𠂹 Sound component
chuí grass, trees, flowers, leaves
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠂹 than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
earth
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "borderland", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzywe[d]o[j] hang down

說文解字

《玉篇》:“,《說文》垂。”

Sources

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

chán gluttonous Traditional

Components

Meaning component
eat

eat

Sound component
chán cunning

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangzrɯːm
Unicodejrhæm

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang