况
kuàng HSK3

situation

Original meaning: cold water

Simplified form of 況. Phonosemantic compound. 冫 represents the meaning and 兄 represents the sound.

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

氵 is a component form of 水.

Change in meaning
冫 hints at the original meaning of 况, "cold water", which is no longer the most common meaning of 况 in modern Mandarin.
兄
兄 Sound component
xiōng, xiong elder brother
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

況 kuàng situation Traditional

Original meaning: cold water

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 兄 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

Change in meaning
氵 hints at the original meaning of 況, "cold water", which is no longer the most common meaning of 況 in modern Mandarin.
兄
兄 Sound component
xiōng, xiong elder brother
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjwangH[m̥]aŋ-s compare with, be equal to
xjwangH[m̥]aŋ-s how much the more

說文解字

《說文》：“況，寒水也。从水，兄聲。”

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)