小鲜肉
xiǎo​xiān​ròu

teen idol

小 xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as 少. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 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

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

孙尖尘肖隙尕尜尗

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

肖県

Iconic (2)

𭕆𧴪

Simplified (1)

孙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》：“小，物之微也。从八，丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79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)

鲜 xiān, xian fresh Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鱼 represents the meaning and 祥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鮮.

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish
祥
祥 SoundRemnant component
xiáng good luck

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

癣藓

Sources

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

肉 ròu meat

Pictograph of a piece of meat.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (5)

有多将骨將

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

腐脔胬臠

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

瘸

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuwkk.nuk meat, flesh

說文解字

《說文》：“肉，胾肉。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.338
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鮮 xiān, xian fresh Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 魚 represents the meaning and 祥 represents the sound.

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish
祥
祥 SoundRemnant component
xiáng good luck

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

蘚癬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjen[s][a]r fresh; good
sjens[a]r 鮮卑 *s[a]r.pe Xiānbēi
sjenX[s][e]rʔ rare, few

說文解字

《說文》：“鮮，魚名，出貉國。从魚，羴省聲。”

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)