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Seal Xin 9-23 AD 
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD Regular Modern
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Changed fields: hint, isVerified, components, customSources
Original meaning: to give birth to a child
Depicts a cover (冖/宀) over the sum (日). 宀 also provides the pronunciation. The purpose of the bottom 六 component is unclear.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | meng | mˤeŋ | dark |
說文解字
《說文》：“冥，幽也。从日，从六，冖聲。日數十，十六日而月始虧，幽也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.544-545
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)