fēn​pín

frequency division

fēn, fèn, fen divide

Depicts a knife () being used to cut two things apart ().

Components

SoundIconic component
eight

Depicts two things being separated.

Change in sound
Iconic component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 23 verified)

Meaning (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjunpə[n] divide
bjunH[m]-pə[n]-s alloted duty

說文解字

《說文》:“分,別也。从八,从刀,刀以分別物也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

pín frequently Simplified

Original meaning: riverside

Depicts a person standing () on the shore wading () in shallow water. Based on the original meaning "riverside", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "continuous" and "repeatedly".

Components

IconicRemnant component
shè wade
Iconic component
page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

pín frequently Traditional

Original meaning: riverside

Depicts a person standing () on the shore wading () in shallow water. Based on the original meaning "riverside", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "continuous" and "repeatedly".

Components

IconicRemnant component
shè wade
Iconic component
(head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjin[b]i[n] frequently
bjin[m-p]i[n] river bank

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica