存
cún HSK3

exist, keep

Phonosemantic compound. 子 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

子
子 Meaning component
zi, zǐ child
才
才 Sound component
cái, cai talent
Change in sound

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 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 (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzwon[dz]ˤə[n] exist

說文解字

《說文》:“存,恤問也。从子,才聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica