尊贤爱物
zūn​xián'ài​wù

benevolence

尊 zūn respect

Depicts a hand (寸) offering a container of wine (酋).

Components

酋
酋 Iconic component
qiú chief of tribe

Depicts a container of wine.

寸
寸 SoundIconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
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 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 of 6 verified)

遵蹲樽鳟撙鱒

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

遵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttswon[ts]ˤu[n] honor (v.)
tswon[ts]ˤu[n] wine-cup

說文解字

《說文》：“，酒器也。从酋，廾以奉之。《周禮》六尊：犧尊、象尊、著尊、壺尊、太尊、山尊，以待祭祀賓客之禮。尊，或从寸。”

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)

贤 xián, xiàn virtuous Simplified

Components

又
又 Unknown component
yòu again
贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

money

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

爱 ài love Simplified

Simplified form of 愛. Phonosemantic compound. 旡 represents the sound and 友 (friend) represents the meaning.

Components

旡
旡 Sound component
jì choke on something eaten
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 旡 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Simplified component
characterless component

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

暧嗳嫒瑷𫣊

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

物 wù, wu thing

Original meaning: varicolored cow

Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".

Components

牛
牛 Meaning component
niú cow
勿
勿 Sound component
wù, mò must not

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjutC.mut thing

說文解字

《說文》：“物，萬物也。牛為大物，天地之數，起於牽牛，故从牛，勿聲。”

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)

賢 virtuous Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 臤 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
臤
臤 Sound component
to gouge out an eye

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthen[g]ˤi[n]worthy
Zhengzhangɡiːn
Unicodehen

說文解字

多才也。从貝臤聲。

Sources

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

愛 ài love Traditional

Originally a phonosemantic compound, with 旡 representing the sound and 心 (heart) representing the meaning. Later the 夂 component was added.

Components

兂
兂 Sound component
zān hairpin
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 兂 than it was in ancient scripts.
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
夂
夂 Unknown component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. The purpose of this component is unclear.

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 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

僾噯曖璦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ojH[q]ˤə[p]-s to love; to grudge (< ‘draw close to oneself’?)

說文解字

《說文》：“愛，行皃。从夊，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)