仗势凌弱

仗 zhàng weaponry, war

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 丈 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

丈
丈 Sound component
zhàng unit of length ~ 3 meters

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdaŋʔ
daŋs
Unicodedjhiɑ̀ng
djhiɑ̌ng

Sources

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

势 shì, shi power

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 执 represents the sound. Simplified form of 勢.

Components

力
力 Meaning component
lì, li power
执
执 Sound component
zhí hold in hand

Sources

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

凌 líng, lìng pure

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

ice

夌
夌 Sound component
líng to surpass, to ascend

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartling[r]əŋtransgress; attack
lingp.rəŋice
Zhengzhangrɯŋ
Unicodeliəng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

弱 ruò weak

Original meaning: urinate

Depicts two people urinating (尿). Based on the original meaning "urinate", now written as 尿/溺. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.
尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

溺搦蒻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknewk weak

說文解字

《說文》：“弱，橈也，上象橈曲，彡象毛氂橈弱也。弱物并，故从二。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.705
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)