chéng​qīn

marry

chéng, cheng completed

Original meaning: city

Depicts defending city walls () with an axe (). also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Depicts an axe.

SoundIconic component
dīng cubes

Depicts city walls.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyeng[d]eŋ to become (v.i.)
dzyengm-[d]eŋ to complete (tr. v)

說文解字

《說文》:“成,就也。从戊,丁聲。,古文成从午。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.963-964漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qīn, qin relatives Simplified

Original meaning: chestnut tree

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "chestnut". This character was repurposed during character simplification as the simplified form of .

Components

Sound component
xīn laborious
Meaning component
tree
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "chestnut tree", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

說文解字

《說文》:“𣓀,果實如小栗。从木,辛聲。《春秋傳》曰:‘女摯不過栗。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qīn, qin relatives Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
qīn, qin relatives
Meaning component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshin[tsʰ]i[n] close; parents

說文解字

《說文》:“親,至也。从見,亲聲。”

Sources

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