临时分居 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

lín draw near Simplified

Original meaning: to look down

Simplified form of 臨. Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) down at a pile of objects (品). 品 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning, "to look down". The meaning has shifted over time and now means "draw near".

Components

臣 Iconic Simplified component

chén minister

Depicts an eye.

Change in form

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

人 Iconic component

rén, ren person

Change in form

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

品 Sound Iconic Simplified component

pǐn product

Here used to depict a pile of objects.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.728-729
Readings & variants: Unicode

shí time Simplified

Simplified form of 時.

Components

日 Meaning component

rì sun

寸 Simplified component

cùn, cun (hand), inch

Shorthand for the 寺 component in the traditional character 時.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

鲥莳埘

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife (刀) being used to cut two things apart (八).

Components

八 Sound Iconic component

bā eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound

分 and 八 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
分 *pə[n]
八 *pˤret

刀 Iconic component

dāo knife

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

份纷贫粉芬扮氛盆盼吩颁忿汾酚玢棼邠坌貧鼢紛頒棻 show all 23 show fewer

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

贫颁岔掰貧頒

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjun	pə[n]	divide
	bjunH	[m]-pə[n]-s	alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》：“分，別也。从八，从刀，刀以分別物也。”

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)

jū live

Phonosemantic compound. 户 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

户 Meaning component

hù, hu door

古 Sound component

gǔ old

Change in sound

居 and 古 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
居 *k(r)a
古 *kˤaʔ

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

据剧锯踞倨裾琚椐鋸

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

据踞

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kjo	k(r)a	squat; stay, dwell
	kjo	ka	final particle
	kjoH	k(r)a-s (based on rhyme evidence)	dwelling

說文解字

《說文》：“居，蹲也。从尸，古者居从古。踞，俗居从足。”

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)

lín draw near Traditional

Original meaning: to look down

Depicts a person (人) looking (臣) down at a pile of objects (品). 品 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning, "to look down". The meaning has shifted over time and now means "draw near".