何应钦
Hé Yìng​qīn

He Yingqin

何 hé what

Original meaning: shoulder a burden

Depiction of a man carrying an axe on over his shoulders. The right side of the form was later phoneticized into 可. The current meaning "what" is a phonetic loan.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in meaning
亻 hints at the original meaning of 何, "shoulder a burden", which is no longer the most common meaning of 何 in modern Mandarin.
可
可 Sound component
kě able to

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 Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 (0 of 1 verified)

荷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartha[g]ˤaj what

說文解字

《說文》：“何，儋也。从人，可聲。”

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)

应 yīng, yìng, ying should Simplified

Simplified form of 應. Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound.

Components

心
心 MeaningSimplified component
xīn, xin heart
䧹
䧹 SoundSimplified component
yīng eagle

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

钦 qīn respect Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 欠 represents the sound. Simplified form of 欽.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

欠
欠 Sound component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

揿

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

應 yīng, yìng, ying should Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 䧹 represents the sound.

Components

心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
䧹
䧹 Sound component
yīng eagle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ing[q](r)əŋ ought

說文解字

《說文》：“應，當也。从心，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)

欽 qīn respect Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 欠 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal

釒 is a component form of 金.

欠
欠 Sound component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

撳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰrɯm
Unicodekim

說文解字

欠皃。从欠金聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)