俗谚
sú​yàn

proverb

俗 sú social customs

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

谷
谷 Sound component
gǔ valley, ravine

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjowks-[ɢ]ok ways, customs; vulgar

說文解字

《說文》：“俗，習也。从人，谷聲。”

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)

谚 yàn proverb Simplified

words 讠; 彦 provides the pronunciation

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech
彦
彦 Sound component
yàn, pán elegant

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

諺 proverb Traditional

Elegant 彦 words 言; 彦 also provides the pronunciation

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
彥
彥 SoundMeaning component
elegant

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjenHŋra[n]-s saying, proverb

說文解字

《說文》：“諺，傳言也。从言，彥聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)