兼优
jiān​yōu

all-around excellent

兼 jiān double

Depicts a hand (又) holding two stalks of grain (禾).

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.
禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 (6 of 13 verified)

廉嫌歉赚谦慊缣鹣蒹搛賺謙鶼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

搛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkem[k]ˤem combine; at the same time

說文解字

《說文》：“兼，并也。从又持秝。兼，持二禾。秉，持一禾。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.188
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

优 yōu superior Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 尤 represents the sound. Simplified form of 優.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

尤
尤 Sound component
yóu especially

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

優 yōu superior Traditional

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

憂
憂 Sound component
yōu sad

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'juwʔ(r)u entertainer; liberal

說文解字

《說文》：“優，饒也。从人，憂聲。一曰倡也。”

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)