安南山脉
ān​nán Shān​mài

Annamite Range

安 ān peaceful

Depicts a woman (女) sitting under a roof (宀). Older forms of this character depict a person kneeling with a mark on their thigh and shin to indicate sitting.

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman

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 Early Western Zhou ~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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

案按氨鞍胺晏铵桉銨

Meaning (1)

晏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'an[ʔ]ˤa[n] peace(ful)
'an[ʔ]ˤa[n] how
'an[ʔ]ˤa[n] 安息 Ānxī (Iranian country in the western regions, W. Hàn; from Aršaka = Arsaces, founder of the Arsacid dynasty)

說文解字

《說文》：“安，靜也。从女在宀下。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫徐超《古漢字通解500例》p.1-2
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

南 nán south

Original meaning: musical instrument

Depicts a bell-shaped musical instrument. The current meaning of 南 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
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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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 (0 of 5 verified)

喃楠罱蝻腩

Simplified (1)

献

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnomnˤ[ə]m south

說文解字

《說文》：“南，艸木至南方有枝任也。从，聲。，古文。”

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)

山 shān mountain

Pictograph of a mountain.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (8 of 109 verified)

密岛岩峰崇幽峡岗岳崩岭崖峻崔屿岚崎嵌峭崭峙峨崛岔巍嵩岑巅峦嵋屹岐岖岬岱嵇岌峪嶙峋崂峒崴岷岫嵘峁嶂峥崆崧岢崮峤岘嵊崾峄嵴崃嵬嶝岵岿崞嵝嵛崤岣嵯嵫崦岜岽豳嶷岙岈屺岍嵐嶽嶄嶺巆嶧峴巒巓崢屵岡嶼島嶇巔崒巖嵒嶸嶡峇崗崑崙嶗峽嶪徴

Sound (1 of 11 verified)

仙灿讪汕舢疝籼氙訕赸屾

Simplified (1)

岁

Deleted (1)

冈

Iconic (1)

屾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsreans-ŋrar mountain, hill

說文解字

《說文》：“山，宣也。宣气，生萬物，有石而高。象形。”

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)

脉 mài blood vessels Simplified

Simplified form and variant of 脈. The blood vessels is the part of the body (⺼) where blood flows (永).

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

永
永 Meaning component
yǒng long

Used here to allude to flowing blood in the blood vessels.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

霡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeakC.mˤ<r>[i]k vein

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1019
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

脈 mài blood vessels Traditional

The blood vessels is the part of the body (⺼) where blood flows (𠂢).

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

𠂢
𠂢 SoundMeaning component
pài river branching

Used here to allude to flowing blood in the blood vessels. 𠂢 also represents the sound.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

霢

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeakC.mˤ<r>[i]k vein

說文解字

《說文》：“，血理分衺行體者，从从血。脈，或从肉。衇，籀文。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1019
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)