同等
tóng​děng HSK7

equal

同 tóng, tong, tòng together

Depicts a large object (凡) like a shoulder carriage that requires the cooperation of multiple people working together to carry.

Components

凡
凡 Iconic component
fán all

Depicts a large object like a shoulder carriage.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Alludes to people speaking together to communicate.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 14 verified)

洞铜筒桐酮恫侗峒胴硐茼衕垌銅

Iconic (2)

兴興

Simplified (1)

兴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwnglˤoŋ together, join

說文解字

《說文》：“同，合會也。从，从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.614
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

等 děng rank

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹. Alludes to an orderly arrangement of writings on bamboo strips.

寺
寺 Sound component
sì, shì temple
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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-SagarttongXtˤəŋʔ step, grade

說文解字

《說文》：“等，齊簡也。从竹，从寺。寺，官曹之等平也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)