南亚区域合作联盟 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

nán south

Original meaning: musical instrument

Depicts a bell-shaped musical instrument. The current meaning of 南 is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

喃楠罱蝻腩

Simplified (1)

献

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nom	nˤ[ə]m	south

說文解字

《說文》：“南，艸木至南方有枝任也。从，聲。，古文。”

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)

yà Asia, sub- Simplified

Original meaning: tomb

Simplified form of 亞. Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

恶哑娅垩桠氩垭痖

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

晋

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

qū area Simplified

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

Components

匚 Iconic component

fāng, fàng box

Depicts an enclosed area.

品 Iconic Simplified component

pǐn product

Depicts a group of things.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 14 verified)

欧驱躯枢呕殴鸥岖抠讴沤瓯怄眍

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

妪奁伛

Sources

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

yù district

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

或 Sound component

huò or

Change in sound

域 and 或 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
域 *[ɢ]ʷrək
或 *[ɢ]ʷrək

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwik	[ɢ]ʷrək	territory

說文解字

《說文》：“或，邦也。从囗，从戈以守一。一，地也。域，或又从土。”

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)

hé to join

Depicts two mouths talking to each other.

Components

亼 Iconic component

jí (upside-down mouth), to assemble

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (7 of 22 verified)

给答哈恰拾盒鸽颌蛤龛袷給饸铪閤荅鴿頜龕峇餄耠 show all 22 show fewer

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kop	kˤop	together; put together; combined
	hop	m-kˤop	come together; bring together

說文解字

《說文》：“合，合口也。从亼，从口。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.438
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zuò make

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

乍 Sound component

zhà, zuò suddenly

Change in sound

作 and 乍 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
作 *[ts]ˤak-s
乍 *[dz]ˤrak-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

做

Meaning (1)

做

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsak	[ts]ˤak	do, work
	tsuH	[ts]ˤak-s	do, work

說文解字

《說文》：“作，起也。从人，从乍。”

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)

lián connect Simplified

Simplified form of 聯. Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 𢇇 represents the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

Alludes to earrings connected to the ear.

关 Simplified component

guān to close

Shorthand for the phonetic 𢇇 component in the traditional character 聯.

Sources

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

méng swear

Phonosemantic compound. 皿 represents the meaning and 明 represents the sound.

Components

皿 Meaning component

mǐn, mǐng dish

明 Sound component

míng, ming bright

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjæng	mraŋ	covenant
Zhengzhang		mraŋ
		mraːŋs

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica

yà Asia, sub- Traditional

Original meaning: tomb

Depicts a wooden structure where coffins are placed. Based on the original meaning "tomb". The current meaning "Asia" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

埡啞堊婭惡

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'aeH	ʔˤrak-s	secondary

說文解字

《說文》：“亞，醜也。象人局背之形。賈侍中說以為次弟也。”

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)

qū area Traditional

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

Components

匚 Iconic component

fāng, fàng box

Depicts an enclosed area.

品 Iconic component

pǐn product

Depicts a group of things.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 15 verified)

驅軀嘔慪甌嶇歐鷗毆熰樞漚謳摳瞘

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

嫗奩

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'uw	qˤ(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
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

lián connect Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 𢇇 represents the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

Alludes to earrings connected to the ear.

𢇇 Sound component

guān to run threads through a web in weaving

Change in sound

聯 and 𢇇 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
聯 *ɡ·ron
𢇇 *kroːn

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“聯，連也。从耳，耳連於頰也；从絲，絲連不絕也。”

Sources

Character origin: Zhengzhang Shangfang漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

南 nán south

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

亚 yà Asia, sub- Simplified

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

区 qū area Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1 of 14 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Sources

域 yù district

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

合 hé to join

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (7 of 22 verified)

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

Simplified (2)

Iconic (2)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

作 zuò make

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

联 lián connect Simplified

Components

Sources

盟 méng swear

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

亞 yà Asia, sub- Traditional

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

區 qū area Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 15 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

聯 lián connect Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

nán south

yà Asia, sub- Simplified

qū area Simplified

yù district

hé to join

zuò make

lián connect Simplified

méng swear

yà Asia, sub- Traditional

qū area Traditional

lián connect Traditional