傍午
bàng​wǔ

near noon

傍 bàng by side of

Someone 亻 by your side 旁; 旁 also provides the pronunciation

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person
旁
旁 SoundMeaning component
páng side

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbangH[b]ˤaŋ-sbeside; assist
bang[b]ˤaŋbeside; assist
Zhengzhangbaːŋ
baːŋs
Unicodebhɑn
bhɑn

說文解字

近也。从人㫄聲。

Sources

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

午 wǔ, wu noon

Original meaning: pestle

Pictograph of a pestle used for pounding rice, now written as 杵. The current meaning "noon" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

许御杵忤迕仵許

Iconic (2)

御臿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnguX[m].qʰˤaʔ 7th earthly branch
nguXm-qʰˤaʔ resist; cross-wise

說文解字

《說文》：“午，啎也。五月陰氣午逆陽，冒地而出。此予矢同意。”

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)