吟
yín

sing

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 今 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
今
今 Sound component
jīn now

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngimm-qʰ(r)[ə]mchant, intone
Zhengzhangŋɡrɯm
ŋɡrɯms
Unicodengyim

說文解字

呻也。从口今聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)