Original meaning: pure jade
Depicts jade (玉) that is entirely pure and flawless. Based on the original meaning "pure jade". The meaning later shifted to "complete" and "entire".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzjwen | [dz]o[n] | complete (adj.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“，完也。从入，从工。全，篆文从玉。純玉曰全。，古文仝。”
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)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: measure weight
Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 爯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "measure weight". The meaning later shifted to "lift", "raise", "praise", "reputation", and "call".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhing | tʰəŋ | weigh; evaluate; call |
| tsyhingH | mə-tʰəŋ-s | steelyard |
說文解字
《說文》：“稱，銓也。从禾，爯聲。春分而禾生，日夏至晷景可度，禾有秒，秋分而秒定。律數十二，秒而當一分，十分而寸。其以為重，十二粟為一分，十二分為一銖。故諸程品皆从禾。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫Wiktionary
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)