壬戌
rén​xū

Renxu year

壬 rén 9th heavenly stem

Original meaning: thread spool

Pictograph of a warp beam used for holding silk in, also known as a spool. The modern meaning "9th heavenly stem" is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

任妊饪衽纴飪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyimn[ə]m 9th heavenly stem

說文解字

《說文》：“壬，位北方也。陰極陽生，故《易》曰：‘龍戰于野。’戰者，接也。象人褢妊之形。承亥壬以子，生之敘也。與巫同意。壬承辛，象人脛。脛，任體也。”

Sources

Character origin
古今文字集成
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

戌 xū, qu 11th terrestrial branch

Pictograph of an axe. Similar to 戈 and 戊.

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
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Xin 9-23 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (3)

成威咸

Sound (1)

烕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartswits.mi[t] 11th earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》：“戌，滅也。九月陽氣微，萬物畢成，陽下入地也。五行，土生於戊，盛於戌，从戊含一。”

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)