Original meaning: to give birth to a child
Depicts two hands (𠬜) opening a woman's legs with a baby's head protruding out of it. Based on the original meaning "to give birth to a child", now written as 娩. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
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
- 漢語多功能字庫Этимология китайских иероглифов
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of an axe head, used as a symbol of the king's military authority.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwang | ɢʷaŋ | king |
| hjwangH | ɢʷaŋ-s | be king |
說文解字
《說文》：“王，天下所歸往也。董仲舒曰：‘古之造文者，三畫而連其中謂之王。三者，天、地、人也；而參通之者，王也。’孔子曰：‘一貫三為王。’，古文王。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.52
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)