兇
xiōng HSK6

terrible, fearful

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approved by Peter Olson · Feb 19, 2022, 04:41 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Feb 19, 2022, 04:41 AM

凶

Depicts a person (卩) under a trap (凶).

Components

凶
凶 SoundIconic component

Depicts a trap.

卩
卩 Meaning component

Depicts a person under a trap.

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

Character Evolution

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 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 Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

說文解字

《說文》:“兇,擾恐也,从人在凶下。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Historical images
Academia Sinica