Original meaning: scrotum
Pictograph of the scrotum of a male's penis. The meaning later shifted to "egg", "ovum", and "spawn".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Meaning (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | lwaX | k.rˤorʔ (dialect: *-r > *-j) | egg |
| lwanX | k.rˤorʔ | egg |
說文解字
《說文》：“卵，凡物無乳者卵生。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.901-902
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 員 represents the sound. Originally written as 員.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwen | ɢʷ<r>en | round |
說文解字
《說文》：“圓，圜。全也。从囗，員聲，讀若員。”
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)