wǔ​rǔ​xìng

insulting

insult

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rén person
Sound component
měi every
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuXm(r)oʔ insult (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“侮,傷也。从人,每聲。,古文从母。”

Sources

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

humiliate

Original meaning: to use a farming tool for weeding

Depicts a hand () using a farming tool () to remove dirty weeds. Based on the original meaning "to use a farming tool for weeding", now written as . The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "disgrace" and "humiliate".

Components

Iconic component
chén early morning

Depicts a farming tool.

Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyowknok disgrace

說文解字

《說文》:“辱,耻也。从寸在辰下。失耕時,於封畺上戮之也。辰者,農之時也。故房星為辰,田候也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1285
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xìng, xing nature

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

is a component form of .

Sound component
shēng, sheng life

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjengHseŋ-s nature

說文解字

《說文》:“性,人之陽气性善者也。从心,生聲。”

Sources

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