姜
jiāng HSK7

surname

Simplified form of 薑; grass 艹 provides the meaning while 畺 provides the pronunciation

Components

羊
羊 Meaning component
yáng sheep
女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman

Character Evolution

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 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-SagartkjangC.qaŋa family name
Zhengzhangklaŋ

說文解字

神農居姜水，以爲姓。从女羊聲。

Sources

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

薑 jiāng ginger Traditional

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

herb

畺
畺 Sound component
jiāng, jiàng boundary

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjang[k]aŋginger
Zhengzhangkaŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica