黄巾民变
Huáng​jīn Mín​biàn

Yellow Turban Rebellion

黄 huáng yellow Simplified

Original meaning: physically disabled

Simplified form of 黃. Pictograph of a person with a large belly, representing someone deformed. The 口 component was added to imply sighing. Based on the original meaning "physically disabled", now written as 尪. Later meaning shifted to "yellow; sallow", a skin color associated with illness.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

横簧磺璜潢蟥癀

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

磺

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodehuɑng

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918
Readings & variants
Unicode

巾 jīn cloth

Pictograph of a cloth hanging downwards.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (12 of 43 verified)

常布希帮席币幕幅佩帕帐饰帽帘帆幢帜帖幌幡帷幔帧帛帼幄帙幂帑帔帏幛帻幞帱飾幗幣幟幀幃幬帳

Iconic (4)

刷帅㡀帥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkinkrən kerchief

說文解字

《說文》：“巾，佩巾也。从冂，丨象系也。”

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)

民 mín people

Original meaning: slave

Pictograph of an eye (目) being poked with something sharp. In ancient China, slaves were sometimes punished by blinding them with a sharp object. Based on the original meaning "slave". The meaning later shifted to "common person".

Components

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 目 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a sharp object poking an eye.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 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 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 8 verified)

眠抿泯岷珉苠昬敃

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

氓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjinmi[ŋ] people

說文解字

《說文》：“民，眾萌也。从古文之象。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.855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)

变 biàn change Simplified

Simplified form of 變. Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌
䜌 SoundSimplified component
luán tie together
Change in sound
又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 夂 component in the traditional character 變. 夂 is a component form of 止.

Sources

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

黃 huáng yellow Traditional

Original meaning: physically disabled

Pictograph of a person with a large belly, representing someone deformed. The 口 component was added to imply sighing. Based on the original meaning "physically disabled", now written as 尪. Later meaning shifted to "yellow; sallow", a skin color associated with illness.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
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 Xin 9-23 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 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 (1 of 2 verified)

廣橫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwangN-kʷˤaŋ yellow

說文解字

《說文》：“黃，地之色也。从田，从炗，炗亦聲。炗，古文光。，古文黃。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

變 biàn change Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌
䜌 Sound component
luán tie together
Change in sound
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjenHpro[n]-s change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“變，更也。从攴，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)