固若金汤
gù​ruò​jīn​tāng

invulnerable

固 gù to become solid

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
古
古 Sound component
gǔ old

Character Evolution

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

涸锢崮痼鲴箇錮個

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

涸锢錮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuH[k]ˤa-s fortified, secure

說文解字

《說文》：“固，四塞也。从囗，古聲。”

Sources

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

若 ruò if

Original meaning: conform, obey

Pictograph of a kneeling person smoothing out their unkempt hair with their hands. Based on the original meaning "conform, obey". The 口 (mouth) component was added later when the character became more abstract.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts unkempt hair.

𠂇
𠂇 Iconic component
zuǒ left hand

Depicts a hand smoothing out the hair.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
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 8 verified)

诺惹匿偌喏锘箬諾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknak you
nyaknak agree

說文解字

《說文》：“若，擇菜也。从艸、右。右，手也。一曰杜若，香艸。”

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)

金 jīn metal

Phonosemantic compound. 王 and 吕 represent the meaning and 今 represents the sound. 王 depicts a metal axe and 吕 depicts two metal plates.

Components

今
今 SoundRemnant component
jīn now

Remnant from the top part of 今.

王
王 Iconic component
wáng king

Depicts a metal axe.

吕
吕 Iconic component
lǚ pitchpipe

Depicts two metal plates.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 19 verified)

鉴釜鑫銮鋈鍪鏖錾鎏鏊鐾銎蓥鑾銜鑿鑒鎣劉

Deleted (2)

录凿

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

淦唫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkimk(r)[ə]m metal, bronze

說文解字

《說文》：“金，五色金也。黄為之長，久薶不生衣，百鍊不輕，从革不違。西方之行，生於土，从土，左右注象金在土中形，今聲。，古文金。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.925
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

汤 tāng, tang hot water Simplified

Simplified form of 湯. Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 𠃓 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𠃓
𠃓 Sound component
yáng bright

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

荡烫铴

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

荡

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

湯 tāng, tang hot water Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 昜 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

昜
昜 Sound component
yáng bright

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

盪蕩

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

燙蕩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyangl̥aŋ amply-flowing
thangl̥ˤaŋ hot liquid
thangr̥ˤaŋ (proper name:) founder of Shāng dynasty

說文解字

《說文》：“湯，熱水也。从水，昜聲。”

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)