龙争虎斗
lóng​zhēng​hǔ​dòu

clash of giants

龙 lóng dragon Simplified

Pictograph of a dragon curled up. The simplified character 龙 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 龍.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 16 verified)

庞笼垄拢宠胧聋咙陇珑茏泷垅砻眬栊

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

龚珑龛

Sources

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

争 zhēng strife, quarrel Simplified

Simplified form of 爭. Depicts two hands (爫 又) grabbing the same plow.

Components

爫
爫 IconicSimplified component
zhǎo hand, claw
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爫 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a plow.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 10 verified)

静净挣睁铮筝狰诤峥錚

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

挣诤

Sources

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

虎 hǔ, hu tiger

Pictograph of a tiger.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

彪琥號虒猇

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

唬琥處

Iconic (2)

虢冡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxuXqʰˤraʔ (W dialect: *qˤʰr- >r̥ˤ- > x-)tiger

說文解字

《說文》：“虎，山獸之君。从虍，虎足象人足，象形……虝，古文虎。，亦古文虎。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.409
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

斗 dòu ladle Simplified

Pictograph of a ladle or dipper. In simplified Chinese 斗 is also used to mean "fight, struggle", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 鬥.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

科斜魁斟斛钭戽鈄

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

抖蚪钭鈄枓

Iconic (1)

料

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttuwXtˤoʔ bushel; ladle
tsyuXtoʔ ladle

說文解字

《說文》：“斗，十升也。象形，有柄。”

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)

龍 lóng dragon Traditional

Pictograph of a dragon curled up.

Character Evolution

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 Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

籠聾攏瀧瓏隴龐朧矓蘢壟嚨寵

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

龔瓏龕

Iconic (1)

龖

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

𪚥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljowng[mə]-roŋ dragon
maewngmˤroŋ variegated

說文解字

《說文》：“龍，鱗蟲之長。能幽能明，能細能巨，能短能長，春分而登天，秋分而潛淵。从肉，飛之形，童省聲。”

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)

爭 zhēng strife, quarrel Traditional

Depicts two hands (爫 又) grabbing the same plow.

Components

爫
爫 Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪.

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a plow.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

靜箏崢掙凈淨睜猙

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

掙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsreang[ts]ˤreŋ
(~ *m-tsˤreŋ or *mə-tsˤreŋ)		strife, quarrel

說文解字

《說文》：“爭，引也。从、厂。”

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)

鬥 fight Traditional

Pictograph of two people wrestling each other.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 4 verified)

鬧鬮鬩鬨

Sound (1)

鬭

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttuwHtˤok-s quarrel, wrangle

說文解字

《說文》：“鬥，兩士相對，兵杖在後，象鬥之形。”

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)