𠓥
biān

whip

Original form of 鞭 (whip). Depicts a hand holding a whip or a staff. 免 was later added as sound component.

Components

免
免 Sound component
miǎn (hat), avoid

Originally 丙 (pedestal), which was thought to depict a cart, before corrupting into sound component 免.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 免 than it was in ancient scripts.
攴
攴 Iconic component
pū tap

Depicts a hand holding a whip or staff.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

便

Meaning (1)

便

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjienpe[n]whip (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“鞭，驅也。从革，便聲。，古文鞭。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇 《說文新證》 p.188
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)