定焦镜头
dìng​jiāo​jìng​tóu

prime lens

定 dìng settle

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 正 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
正
正 Sound component
zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct
Change in sound

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

绽淀锭啶碇靛腚錠綻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdengHN-tˤeŋ-s become fixed; settled (v.i.)
dengHm-tˤeŋ-s make fixed, settle (v.t.)
tengHtˤeŋ-s ready-cooked (food)

說文解字

《說文》：“定，安也。从宀，从正。”

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)

焦 jiāo burned

Original meaning: wren

Originally a pictograph of a wren. Based on the original meaning "wren", now written as 鷦. Later used as a phonetic loan for "burn", after which the fire (灬) component was added.

Components

隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
Change in meaning
隹 hints at the original meaning of 焦, "wren", which is no longer the most common meaning of 焦 in modern Mandarin.
灬
灬 Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 15 verified)

瞧礁蕉樵憔醮谯鹪僬劁噍蟭膲鷦譙

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

樵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsjewS.tew burn, scorch
tsjewS.tew Jiao (place name)

說文解字

《說文》：“，火所傷也。从火，雥聲。，或省。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.757-758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)

镜 jìng mirror Simplified

Simplified form of 鏡. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 竟 represents the sound.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

竟
竟 Sound component
jìng actually

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆
豆 SoundSimplified component
dòu bean
頁
頁 IconicSimplified component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鏡 jìng mirror Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 竟 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal
竟
竟 Sound component
jìng actually

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjaengHC.qraŋʔ-s mirror

說文解字

《說文》：“鏡，景也。从金，竟聲。”

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)

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)