国家文物鉴定委员会 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

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)

帼蝈掴

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

jiā, jia house

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and a remnant of 豭 represents the sound.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

豭 Sound Remnant component

jiā boar

Left half of 豭 (boar).

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

嫁稼镓傢

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kae	kˤra	household

說文解字

《說文》：“家，居也。从宀，豭省聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.589-590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 writing

Pictograph of a man with writing (possibly a tattoo) on his chest. In later scripts the writing was abbreviated to a dot or omitted altogether.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjun	mə[n]	ornate

說文解字

《說文》：“文，錯畫也。象交文。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.706
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

wù, wu thing

Original meaning: varicolored cow

Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".

Components

牛 Meaning component

niú cow

勿 Sound component

wù, mò must not

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjut	C.mut	thing

說文解字

《說文》：“物，萬物也。牛為大物，天地之數，起於牽牛，故从牛，勿聲。”

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)

jiàn mirror Simplified

Components

金 Meaning component

jīn metal

metal

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

dìng settle

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

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

正 Sound component

zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct

Change in sound

定 and 正 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
定 *tˤeŋ-s
正 *teŋ-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

绽淀锭啶碇靛腚錠綻

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dengH	N-tˤeŋ-s	become fixed; settled (v.i.)
	dengH	m-tˤeŋ-s	make fixed, settle (v.t.)
	tengH	tˤeŋ-s	ready-cooked (food)

說文解字

《說文》：“定，安也。从宀，从正。”

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)

wěi bent, winding

Depicts grain (禾) in a bent shape (𠃊).

Components

禾 Iconic component

hé grain stalk

𠃊 Iconic component

yǐn hidden area

Used here to depict a bent shape. Modern form looks like 女.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

魏矮萎倭诿痿逶諉

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'jwe	q(r)oj	委蛇 compliant, complaisant
	'jweX	q(r)ojʔ	entrust to
	'jweX	q(r)ojʔ	collect; store
	'jweX	q(r)orʔ	bend; hang down

說文解字

《說文》：“委，委隨也。从女，从禾。”

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)

yuán member Simplified

Simplified form of 員. Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

贝 Iconic Remnant component

bèi sea shell

Change in form

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

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

损圆勋陨殒郧埙筼

Sources

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

huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Simplified form of 會. Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合 Meaning Simplified component

hé to join

𡆧 Sound Simplified component

guó ironware

Change in sound

会 and 𡆧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

绘刽荟桧烩脍狯哙浍鲙郐𬭇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

侩

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants: Unicode

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

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

膕幗蟈摑

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)

jiàn mirror Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 金 represents the meaning and 監 represents the sound.

Components

金 Meaning component

jīn metal

監 Sound component

jiān watch carefully

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica

yuán member Traditional

Original meaning: round

Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

韻損勛篔殞隕鄖圓

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwen	ɢʷ<r>en	circle; round
	hjun	[ɢ]ʷə[n]	(a particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“員，物數也。从貝，口聲。鼎，籀文从鼎。”

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)

huì, kuài to gather Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 合 represents the meaning and 𡆧 represents the sound.

Components

合 Meaning component

hé to join

Change in form

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

𡆧 Sound component

guó ironware

Change in sound

會 and 𡆧 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 11 verified)

劊癐噲膾廥檜燴繪𨭗薈鱠

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

儈廥

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwajH	m-kˤop-s	meeting; have a meeting
	hwajH	ɦʷˤajs (< *m-kˤop-s)	阿會亘 ēhuìxuān: Skt. ābhāsvara ‘shining’ (E. Hàn)
	kwajH	kˤop-s	calculate; calculation

說文解字

《說文》：“會，合也。从亼，从曾省。曾，益也。令，古文會如此。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.442
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

国 guó nation Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

家 jiā, jia house

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

文 wén writing

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

Simplified (2)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

物 wù, wu thing

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

鉴 jiàn mirror Simplified

Components

Sources

定 dìng settle

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

委 wěi bent, winding

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

员 yuán member Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Sources

会 huì, kuài to gather Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1 of 12 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

國 guó nation Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

鑒 jiàn mirror Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Sources

員 yuán member Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

會 huì, kuài to gather Traditional

guó nation Simplified

jiā, jia house

wén writing

wù, wu thing

jiàn mirror Simplified

dìng settle

wěi bent, winding

yuán member Simplified

huì, kuài to gather Simplified

guó nation Traditional

jiàn mirror Traditional

yuán member Traditional

huì, kuài to gather Traditional