上方宝剑
shàng​fāng​bǎo​jiàn

imperial sword

上 shàng, shang up

Originally a small line or dot above a longer line, indicating "up". The vertical line was added to distinguish the character from 二 (two). Opposite of 下.

Character Evolution

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 Warring States ~300 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 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 (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

云忐尗

Sound (1)

让

Simplified (1)

让

Iconic (1)

卡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyangXCə-daŋʔ ascend
dzyangXm-daŋʔ to put up
dzyangHdaŋʔ-s top, above (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“丄，高也。此古文上，指事也。上，篆文丄。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.44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)

方 fāng, fang square

Original meaning: cutting edge

Depicts the cutting edge (一) of a knife blade (刀). Similar in origin to 亡. Based on the original meaning "cutting edge". The meaning later expanded to "perimeter", "area", and "square".

Components

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 刀 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Depicts the cutting edge of a knife.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Late Warring States ~250 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 20 verified)

放房防旁访仿芳妨纺坊肪彷舫鲂枋钫邡訪紡昉

Meaning (2 of 11 verified)

旁旋旌旖旎枋旆旒旄邊旉

Unknown (0 of 4 verified)

愣楞塄堃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjangC-paŋ square
pjangpaŋ method
pjangpaŋ just, then

說文解字

《說文》：“方，併船也。象兩舟省緫頭形。汸，方或从水。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.685-686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)

宝 bǎo treasure Simplified

Simplified form of 寶. Depicts an assortment of valuable things, such as jade (玉), being stored safely under a roof (宀).

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
玉
玉 Iconic component
yù jade

Sources

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

剑 jiàn sword Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 劍.

Components

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Sources

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

寶 bǎo treasure Traditional

Depicts an assortment of valuable things, including jade (玉) and shells (貝), being stored safely under a roof (宀). The 缶 component represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
𤣩
𤣩 Iconic component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

缶
缶 Sound component
fǒu pottery
貝
貝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Western Zhou 1045-771 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 Early Western Zhou ~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 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpawXpˤuʔ precious thing

說文解字

《說文》：“寶，珍也。从宀，从王，从貝，缶聲。寚，古文寶省貝。”

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)

劍 jiàn sword Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

僉
僉 Sound component
together
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaemHs.kr[a]m-s sword

說文解字

《說文》：“劒，人所帶兵也。从刃，僉聲。劍，籀文劒从刀。”

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)