cóng​qián HSK3

formerly

cóng, cōng from Simplified

Pictograph of one person following another.

Components

Iconic component
rén, ren person
Iconic component
rén, ren person

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 Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Iconic (6)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzloŋ

說文解字

《說文》:“从,相聽也。从二人。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qián in front

Original meaning: cut

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound, and represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "cut", now written as . The current meaning "in front" is a phonetic loan.

Components

Sound component
qián go forward
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
dāo knife
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "cut", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzen[dz]ˤen
(~ *m-dzˤen)
before

說文解字

《說文》:“歬,不行而進謂之歬。从止在舟上。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

cóng, cōng from Traditional

Originally written as , which depicts one person following another. Later was added to indicate movement.

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk
Iconic component
cóng, cōng from

Depicts one person following another.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzjowng[dz]oŋ to follow
tsjowngtsoŋ longitudinal
dzjowngH[dz]oŋ-s follower

說文解字

《說文》:“從,隨行也。从辵,从从,从亦聲。”

Sources

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