原委 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

yuánwěi

ins and outs

yuán source

Depicts water coming from a spring (泉) on a cliff (厂).

Components

厂 Iconic component

chǎng cliff, (roof)

泉 Sound Iconic component

quán spring

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

愿源螈塬願

Meaning (1)

源

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ngjwon	N-ɢʷar	spring, source; origin
	ngjwon	N-ɢʷar	high plain (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，水泉本也。从灥出厂下。原，篆文从泉。”

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)

wěi bent, winding

Depicts grain (禾) in a bent shape (𠃊).

Components

禾 Iconic component

hé grain stalk

𠃊 Iconic component

yǐn hidden area

Used here to depict a bent shape. Modern form looks like 女.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠃊 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

魏矮萎倭诿痿逶諉

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'jwe	q(r)oj	委蛇 compliant, complaisant
	'jweX	q(r)ojʔ	entrust to
	'jweX	q(r)ojʔ	collect; store
	'jweX	q(r)orʔ	bend; hang down

說文解字

《說文》：“委，委隨也。从女，从禾。”

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)

原 yuán source

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

委 wěi bent, winding

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

yuán source

wěi bent, winding