博鳌镇
Bó'áo Zhèn

Bo'ao town

博 bó plentiful, gamble

Original meaning: fight

Phonosemantic compound. 盾 represents the meaning and 尃 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fight", which later shifted to "win", "plentiful", and "gamble".

Components

盾
盾 Meaning component
dùn shield

Depicts a shield. Modern form looks like 十.

Change in meaning
盾 hints at the original meaning of 博, "fight", which is no longer the most common meaning of 博 in modern Mandarin.
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 盾 than it was in ancient scripts.
尃
尃 Sound component
fū, bù, fǔ state, announce
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpakpˤak broad

說文解字

《說文》：“博，大，通也。从十，从尃。尃，布也。”

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)

鳌 áo huge sea turtle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鱼 represents the meaning and 敖 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鰲.

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish
敖
敖 Sound component
áo, aó, ào ramble, stroll, roam

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

镇 zhèn press down, town Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 真 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鎮.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

真
真 Sound component
zhēn real

Sources

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

鰲 huge sea turtle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 魚 represents the meaning and 敖 represents the sound.

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish
敖
敖 Sound component
áo, aó, ào ramble, stroll, roam

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋaːw

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

鎮 zhèn press down, town Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 真 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal
真
真 Sound component
zhēn real

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrinHt<r>i[n]-s press down

說文解字

《說文》：“鎮，博壓也。从金，真聲。”

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)