參
cānshēncēnsān

take part in

← Back to history
approved by Peter Olson · Aug 23, 2021, 01:30 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Aug 23, 2021, 01:30 AM

verify

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages

Original meaning: Three Stars constellation

Depicts three (三) stars (晶) shining (光). Originally represented the Three Stars constellation (參) in Chinese astronomy. The more common meaning "take part in" is a phonetic loan.

Components

晶
晶 Iconic component
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 晶 than it was in ancient scripts.
光
光 IconicRemnant component
三
三 SoundMeaning component

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Warring States ~250 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 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshomr̥ˤəʔaccumulate
tsrhim[tsʰr][u]m 參差 tsrhim.tsrhje uneven
sams.rum (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?)three
srimsrum (should be *s.rum)the constellation Orion’ (named for the three stars in Orion’s belt)

說文解字

《說文》：“曑，商星也。从晶，聲。參，曑或省。”

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)