Běi​lún Qū

Beilun District

běi north

Original meaning: back

Pictograph of two people standing back-to-back. Based on the original meaning "back", now written as . The current meaning "north" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpokpˤək north

說文解字

《說文》:“北,也。从二人相背。”

Sources

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

lún, lùn logical reasons Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts an assembly () of writings ().

Components

(upside-down mouth), to assemble
Simplified component
bǐ, pìn spoon, (person)

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

area Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts a group of things () in an enclosed area.

Components

Iconic component
fāng, fàng box

Depicts an enclosed area.

pǐn product

Depicts a group of things.

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Sources

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

arrange Traditional

Depicts an assembly () of writings ().

Components

Meaning component
(upside-down mouth), to assemble
Meaning component
book

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 8 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrun

說文解字

《說文》:“侖,思也。从亼,从冊。,籀文侖。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

area Traditional

Depicts a group of things () in an enclosed area.

Components

Iconic component
fāng, fàng box

Depicts an enclosed area.

Iconic component
pǐn product

Depicts a group of things.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'uwqˤ(r)o (a measure)

說文解字

《說文》:“區,踦區,藏匿也。从品在匸中。品,眾也。”

Sources

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