坟穴
fén​xué

grave

坟 fén grave Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 文 represents the sound. Simplified form of 墳.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
文
文 Sound component
wén writing

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

穴 xué, jué cave

Pictograph of a cave opening.

Character Evolution

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

Meaning (15 of 47 verified)

空究穿窗穷窝窃窄窑帘窜窥窦窟窘窍窒窖穹窿邃窠窈窕窣窸窀窨窳窭穸窆窬竅窩竇窮竄窪窅窾穵窯竈窺竊屄

Iconic (4)

突奂罙奐

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwet[ɢ]ʷˤi[t] cave, pit

說文解字

《說文》：“穴，土室也。从宀，八聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.605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)

墳 fén grave Traditional

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

earth

賁
賁 Sound component
forge ahead

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbɯn
bɯnʔ
Unicodebhiən

說文解字

墓也。从土賁聲。

Sources

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