亘古不变 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

gèngǔbùbiàn

immutable

gèn, xuān, gèng turn around, turn back Simplified

Originally written the same as 回 (return). Later lines were added above and below to distinguish the two characters.

Components

回 Iconic component

huí return

Change in form

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

二 Distinguishing component

èr two

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

宣恒桓垣洹烜姮

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwan	[ɢ]ʷˤar	turn around, turn back
	sjwen	s-[q]ʷar	turn around
	sjwen	swar (< *s-[q]ʷar)	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara ‘shining’ (E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“亘，求亘也。从二，从囘。囘，古文回，象囘回形。上下，所求物也。”

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)

gǔ old

Original meaning: firm, solid

Depicts a shield. Based on the original meaning "firm, solid", which is now written as 固. The current meaning "old" is a phonetic loan.

Components

盾 Iconic component

dùn shield

Depicts a shield.

Change in form

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

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

The 口 component is sometimes used to indicate an abstract meaning taken from a concrete object. Here, the concrete object "shield" evokes the abstract meaning "firm, solid".

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (7 of 27 verified)

故苦居胡固姑估枯咕辜沽骷轱钴祜鸪蛄诂牯嘏怙岵罟酤鴣軲鈷 show all 27 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuX	kˤaʔ	ancient

說文解字

《說文》：“古，故也。从十口。識前言者也。，古文古。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.154
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

bù, bu no

Original meaning: sepals

Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

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

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

否杯钚罘盃

Simplified (4)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjuw	pə	not
	pjuw	pə	不律 writing brush (pron. in Wú 吳 ap. Shuōwén; E. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“不，鳥飛上翔不下來也。从一，一猶天也。象形。”

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)

biàn change Simplified

Simplified form of 變. Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌 Sound Simplified component

luán tie together

Change in sound

变 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

又 Simplified component

yòu again

Shorthand for the 夂 component in the traditional character 變. 夂 is a component form of 止.

Sources

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

gèn, gèng extend across, constant Traditional

Depicts the moon (月) between the earth and the sky。

Components

月 Iconic component

yuè, yue moon

二 Iconic component

èr two

Depicts the earth below and sky above.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kongH	[k]ˤəŋ-s	continuous; constant

說文解字

《說文》：“，竟也。从木，恆聲。，古文。”

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)

biàn change Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 夂 represents the meaning and 䜌 represents the sound.

Components

䜌 Sound component

luán tie together

Change in sound

變 and 䜌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
變 *pro[n]-s
䜌 *mə.rˤo[n]

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjenH	pro[n]-s	change (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“變，更也。从攴，聲。”

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)