訊
xùn

inquire

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approved by inralback19 · Feb 8, 2026, 02:59 PM · Reviewed by inralback19 on Feb 8, 2026, 02:59 PM

Rollback goS7u5uPaJZpqqkFd

Changed fields: hint, isVerified, components, customSources

Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 言 (speech).

Components

言
言 Iconic component

Originally 口 (mouth). Later reanalyzed as 言 (speech).

卂
卂 SoundIconic component

Depicts a captive prisoner with their hands tied behind their back.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsinH[s]i[n]-s ask

說文解字

《說文》：“訊，問也。从言，卂聲。，古文訊从卥。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)