帮凶
bāng​xiōng

accomplice

帮 bāng help Simplified

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 邦 represents the sound. Simplified form of 幫. Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth
邦
邦 Sound component
bāng nation

Sources

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

凶 xiōng vicious, fierce

Pictograph of a trap in the ground.

Character Evolution

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 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 (2 of 4 verified)

匈汹垴兇

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

酗

Iconic (1)

兇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjowngqʰ(r)oŋ unlucky

說文解字

《說文》：“凶，惡也。象地穿交陷其中也。”

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)

幫 bāng help Traditional

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. 帛 represents the meaning and 封 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

帛
帛 Meaning component
bó silks
封
封 Sound component
fēng letter

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpaːŋ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang