公告栏
gōng​gào​lán

bulletin board

公 gōng public

Original meaning: earthen jar

Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

Components

八
八 Iconic component
bā eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

容松讼翁颂瓮蚣衮忪袞頌訟鈆彸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwngC.qˤoŋ impartial, just; public
kuwngC.qˤoŋ father; prince

說文解字

《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

告 gào tell

Pictograph of a tongue extending from an open mouth. Visually similar to 舌 (tongue).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a tongue extending from an open mouth.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

造靠浩酷皓窖诰鹄梏锆郜牿鋯鵠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

诰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkawHkˤuk-s announce, inform
kowkkˤuk announce, inform

說文解字

《說文》：“告，牛觸人，角箸橫木，所以告人也。从口，从牛。《易》曰：‘僮牛之告。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.95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)

栏 lán railing Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 兰 represents the sound. Simplified form of 欄.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
兰
兰 Sound component
lán orchid

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

欄 lán railing Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raːn
Unicodelɑn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang