国务院新闻办公室 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

Guówùyuàn Xīnwén Bàngōngshì

State Council Information Office

guó nation Simplified

Simplified form of 國. Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 或 represents the sound.

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

玉 Sound Simplified component

yù jade

Shorthand for the 或 component in the traditional character 國.

Change in sound

国 and 玉 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
国 *[C.q]ʷˤək
玉 *[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?)

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

wu, wù business Simplified

Simplified form of 務. Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning. The traditional component 矛 was removed for simplification.

Components

矛 Deleted component

máo spear

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

yuàn courtyard

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 完 represents the sound.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

完 Sound component

wán complete

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwenH	ɢʷra[n]-s	wall round a courtyard

說文解字

堅也。从𨸏完聲。

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)

xīn new

Original meaning: firewood

Phonosemantic component. 辛 represents the sound, and 斤 (axe) and 木 (tree) represent the original meaning "firewood", now written as 薪. The meaning later shifted to "fresh" and "new".

Components

辛 Sound component

xīn laborious

木 Iconic component

mù tree

Depicts a tree being cut for firewood.

Change in meaning

木 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

斤 Iconic component

jīn axe

Depicts an axe cutting a tree for firewood.

Change in meaning

斤 hints at the original meaning of 新, "firewood", which is no longer the most common meaning of 新 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sin	s.tsʰi[n]	new

說文解字

《說文》：“新，取木也。从斤，新聲。”

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)

wén hear, smell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 门 represents the sound. Simplified form of 聞.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

门 Sound component

mén, men door

Sources

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

bàn manage Simplified

Simplified form of 辦. Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 辡 represents the sound.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

辡 Sound Simplified component

biàn criminals accusing one another

Component uses

Simplified (2)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

gōng public

Original meaning: earthen jar

Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

Components

八 Iconic component

bā eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口 Iconic component

kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

Change in form

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

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 Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (5 of 14 verified)

容松讼翁颂瓮蚣衮忪袞頌訟鈆彸

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kuwng	C.qˤoŋ	impartial, just; public
	kuwng	C.qˤoŋ	father; prince

說文解字

《說文》：“公，平分也。从八、从厶。八，猶背也。韓非曰：‘背厶為公’。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shì room

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 至 represents the sound.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

至 Sound component

zhì reach

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Early Warring States ~400 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 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

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Meaning (2)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syit	s.ti[t]	chamber; house

說文解字

《說文》：“室，實也。从宀，从至。至，所止也。”

Sources

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

guó nation Traditional

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

Components

囗 Meaning component

wéi, guó surround

或 Sound component

huò or

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwok	[C.q]ʷˤək	state (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“國，邦也。从囗，从或。”

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)

wu, wù business Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound, while 攵 and 力 both represent the meaning.

Components

矛 Sound component

máo spear

Change in sound

務 and 矛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
務 mjuH
矛 mjuw

攵 Meaning component

pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjuH	m(r)o-s	exert oneself

說文解字

趣也。从力敄聲。

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)

wén hear, smell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 門 represents the sound.

Components

耳 Meaning component

ěr ear

門 Sound component

mén, men door

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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

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

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjun	mu[n]	hear (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“聞，知聞也。从耳，門聲。，古文从昏。”

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)

bàn manage Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning and 辡 represents the sound.

Components

力 Meaning component

lì, li power

辡 Sound component

biàn criminals accusing one another

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	beanH	[b]ˤren-s	manage, deal with

說文解字

《說文新附》：“辦，致力也。从力，辡聲。”

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)