Yìn​dù​jīn​huáng​lí

Indian golden oriole

yìn print

Original meaning: restrain

Pictograph of a kneeling person () being held down by a hand (). Based on the original meaning "restrain", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "push down", "stamp", and "print".

Components

Iconic component
zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw
Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jinH[ʔ]iŋ-s seal

說文解字

執政所持信也。从爪从卪。凡印之屬皆从印。

Sources

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

dù, du measure

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning (using a hand to measure something) and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
shí stone
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand measuring something.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartduH[d]ˤak-s measure (n.)
dak[d]ˤak measure (v.)

說文解字

法制也。从又,庶省聲。

Sources

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

jīn metal

Phonosemantic compound. and represent the meaning and represents the sound. depicts a metal axe and depicts two metal plates.

Components

SoundRemnant component
jīn now

Remnant from the top part of .

Iconic component
wáng king

Depicts a metal axe.

Iconic component
pitchpipe

Depicts two metal plates.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Deleted (2)

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkimk(r)[ə]m metal, bronze

說文解字

《說文》:“金,五色金也。黄為之長,久薶不生衣,百鍊不輕,从革不違。西方之行,生於土,从土,左右注象金在土中形,今聲。,古文金。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.925
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

huáng yellow Simplified

Original meaning: physically disabled

Simplified form of . Pictograph of a person with a large belly, representing someone deformed. The component was added to imply sighing. Based on the original meaning "physically disabled", now written as . Later meaning shifted to "yellow; sallow", a skin color associated with illness.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodehuɑng

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918
Readings & variants
Unicode

Chinese oriole Simplified

Components

Sound component
beautiful
Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

huáng yellow Traditional

Original meaning: physically disabled

Pictograph of a person with a large belly, representing someone deformed. The component was added to imply sighing. Based on the original meaning "physically disabled", now written as . Later meaning shifted to "yellow; sallow", a skin color associated with illness.

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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwangN-kʷˤaŋ yellow

說文解字

《說文》:“黃,地之色也。从田,从炗,炗亦聲。炗,古文光。,古文黃。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.918
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

Chinese oriole Traditional

Components

Sound component
beautiful
Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangrel
Unicodeliɛ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang