少将
shào​jiàng

major general

少 shǎo, shao, shào few

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 13 verified)

沙妙秒吵抄纱炒钞砂杪耖紗鈔

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

劣眇杪尠

Iconic (3)

沙砂釆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyewX[s.t]ewʔ few
syewH[s-t]ewʔ-s young

說文解字

《說文》：“少，不多也。从小，丿聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.79
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

将 jiāng, jiàng will Simplified

Simplified form of 將. Depicts a hand (寸) taking a piece of meat (肉). 爿 is a sound component.

Components

丬
丬 Sound component
qiáng piece of wood

丬 is a component form of 爿.

肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat
寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

蒋奖浆桨酱锵

Remnant (4)

奖浆桨酱

Sources

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

將 jiāng, jiàng take Traditional

Depicts a hand (寸) taking a piece of meat (肉). 爿 is a sound component.

Components

爿
爿 Sound component
pán, qiáng piece of wood
肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat
寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Component uses

Sound (4 of 6 verified)

蔣蹡漿醬槳獎

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjang[ts]aŋ bring
tsjangH[ts]aŋ-s lead (v.); leader

說文解字

《說文》：“將，帥也。从寸，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)