帮扶
bāng​fú

assist

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

扶 fú support

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 夫 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

夫
夫 Sound component
fu, fū man

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjum-[p](r)acrawl; assist
Zhengzhangpa
ba
Unicodebhio

說文解字

左也。从手夫聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
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