Pictograph of a river.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | tsyhwen | t.l̥u[n] (MC -jwen is irregular) | stream, river |
說文解字
《說文》：“川，貫穿通流水也。《虞書》曰：‘濬巜距川’，言深巜之水會為川也。”
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)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | twan | tˤor | tip (n.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“端，直也。从立，耑聲。”
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)
Depicts sound coming from a gong (庚).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | khang | [kʰ]ˤaŋ | empty |
| khang | k-r̥ˤaŋ | tranquil; at ease | |
| thang | r̥ˤaŋ | name of first Shang ruler |
說文解字
《說文》：“穅，穀皮也。从禾，从米，庚聲。康，穅或省。”
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)
Original meaning: city
Depicts defending city walls (丁) with an axe (戌). 丁 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Depicts city walls.
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丁 than it was in ancient scripts.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dzyeng | [d]eŋ | to become (v.i.) |
| dzyeng | m-[d]eŋ | to complete (tr. v) |
說文解字
《說文》：“成，就也。从戊，丁聲。，古文成从午。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.963-964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)