圆明园
Yuán​míng​yuán

Old Summer Palace

圆 yuán circle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 员 represents the sound. Simplified form of 圓.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
员
员 Sound component
yuán member

Sources

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

明 míng, ming bright

The character was originally depicted moonlight (月) shining through a window (囧). The 囧 component was later reanalyzed as 日 (sun).

Components

囧
囧 SoundIconic component
jiǒng bright window

The modern form looks similar to 日 (sun).

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 囧 than it was in ancient scripts.
月
月 Iconic component
yuè, yue moon

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

盟萌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjaengmraŋ bright

說文解字

《說文》：“朙，照也。从月，从囧。明，古文朙，从日。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.551-552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)

园 yuán garden Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 元 represents the sound. Simplified form of 園.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
元
元 Sound component
yuán first

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋoːn

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

圓 yuán circle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 員 represents the sound. Originally written as 員.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
員
員 Sound component
yuán member

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

袁

Remnant (1)

袁

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjwenɢʷ<r>en round

說文解字

《說文》：“圓，圜。全也。从囗，員聲，讀若員。”

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)

園 yuán garden Traditional

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

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
袁
袁 Sound component
yuán robe

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjwonC.ɢʷa[n] garden

說文解字

《說文》：“園，所以樹果也。从囗，袁聲。”

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)