兼听则明，偏信则暗 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

jiān double

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

Components

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 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 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

Regular Modern

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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 Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kem	[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)

tīng, ting listen Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 斤 represents the sound. Simplified form of 聽. Before 听 was used as a simplified character, it was pronounced yǐn and was an archaic word for "smile".

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

斤 Sound component

jīn axe

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	ŋɡrɯnʔ
	ŋɡɯnʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“听，笑皃。从口，斤聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zé rule Simplified

Original meaning: law

Simplified form of 則. Depicts carving inscriptions on bronzeware (鼎) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "law". In ancient China, some legal writings were inscribed on bronzeware.

Components

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Modern form looks like unrelated 贝.

刂 Iconic component

dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Component uses

Sources

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

míng, ming bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight (月) shining through a window (囧). The 囧 component was later reanalyzed as 日 (sun).

Components

囧 Sound Iconic component

jiǒng bright window

The modern form looks similar to 日 (sun).

Change in sound

明 and 囧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
明 *mraŋ
囧 *k-mraŋʔ (dialect: *k.mr- > *kʷr-)

Change in form

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

月 Iconic component

yuè, yue moon

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

盟萌

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjaeng	mraŋ	bright

說文解字

《說文》：“朙，照也。从月，从囧。明，古文朙，从日。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.551-552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)

piān inclined one side

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

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

扁 Sound component

biǎn flat

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	phjien	pʰe[n]	oblique; subordinate
Zhengzhang		pʰen
		pʰens
Unicode	piɛn

說文解字

頗也。从人扁聲。

Sources

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

xìn trust

Conveys trusting (信) what a person (人) says (言). 人 is also a sound component.

Components

亻 Sound Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

Change in sound

信 and 亻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
信 *s-ni[ŋ]-s
亻 *ni[ŋ]

言 Meaning component

yán speech

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sinH	s-ni[ŋ]-s	truthful

說文解字

《說文》：“信，誠也。从人，从言，會意。，古文从言省。訃，古文信。”

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)

àn dark

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 音 represents the sound.

Components

日 Meaning component

rì sun

音 Sound component

yīn sound

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'omH	qˤum-s	dark

說文解字

《說文》：“暗，日無光也。从日，音聲。”

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)

tīng, ting hear Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 (ear) represents the meaning, while 德 and 𡈼 represent the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

𡈼 Sound component

tǐng, tíng, zhēng stand upright

惪 Sound component

dé virtue

Change in sound

聽 and 惪 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
聽 *l̥ˤeŋ
惪 *tˤək

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

廳

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	theng	l̥ˤeŋ	listen
	thengH	l̥ˤeŋ-s	listen to; obey

說文解字

《說文》：“聽，聆也。从耳、，声。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.841
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zé rule Traditional

Original meaning: law

Depicts carving inscriptions on bronzeware (鼎) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "law". In ancient China, some legal writings were inscribed on bronzeware.

Components

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Modern form looks like unrelated 貝.

Change in form

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

刂 Iconic component

dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

賊測惻廁側鰂

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsok	[ts]ˤək	then
	tsok	[ts]ˤək	rule, pattern

說文解字

《說文》：“則，等畫物也。从刀，从貝。貝，古之物貨也。，古文則。，亦古文則。，籀文則从鼎。”

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)

兼 jiān double

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (6 of 13 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

听 tīng, ting listen Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

则 zé rule Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

Remnant (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

明 míng, ming bright

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

偏 piān inclined one side

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

信 xìn trust

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

暗 àn dark

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

聽 tīng, ting hear Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

則 zé rule Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

jiān double

tīng, ting listen Simplified

zé rule Simplified

míng, ming bright

piān inclined one side

xìn trust

àn dark

tīng, ting hear Traditional

zé rule Traditional