亮光
liàng​guāng

light

亮 liàng, liang bright

Phonosemantic compound. 人 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Depicts a person (人) in a high place (京).

Components

人
人 MeaningIconic 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.
京
京 SoundIconic component
jīng capital city
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 京 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

喨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljangH[r]aŋ-s brightness

Sources

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

光 guāng light

Pictograph of fire on top of a person.

Components

火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 火 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

晃恍胱觥咣桄

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

辉耀輝

Iconic (2)

参參

Remnant (2)

参參

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwangkʷˤaŋ light, brightness

說文解字

《說文》：“光，明也。从火在人上，光明意也。，古文。炗，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)