今
jīn HSK1

now

← Back to history
approved by Peter Olson · Oct 6, 2020, 05:02 PM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Oct 6, 2020, 05:02 PM

add source, verify

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages

Original meaning: closed mouth

Depicts a closed mouth. Upside-down 曰. The meaning "now" 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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkim[k]r[ə]m now

說文解字

《說文》：“今，是時也。从亼，从乁。乁，古文及。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.440
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)