jiǎn​yǐng

silhouette

jiǎn cut

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
qián in front
Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔslenʔ
Unicodetziɛ̌n

說文解字

《說文》:“(剪),齊斷也。从刀,歬聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yǐng shadow

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The component depicts shadow lines.

Components

Iconic component
shān, xiǎn hair

Depicts shadow lines.

Sound component
jǐng scenery

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jaengXqraŋʔ shadow (n.)

Sources

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