píng​cāng

close position

píng flat

Original meaning: to strike

Depicts using a staff () for striking. Based on the original meaning "to strike", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "level", "even", and "flat".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the moving motion of striking.

Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a staff.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 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 (5 of 11 verified)

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjien[b]en distinguish; punctiious
bjaengbreŋ even (adj.)
bjaengm-breŋ make even

說文解字

《說文》:“平,語平舒也。从亏,从八。八,分也。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

cāng granary Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts grain gathered together () behind a door ().

Components

to join
hù, hu door

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

cāng granary Traditional

Depicts grain gathered together () behind a door ().

Components

Iconic component
to join
Iconic component
hù, hu door

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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

Sound (3 of 12 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshang[s.r̥]ˤaŋ tshang-kaeng 'oriole'
tshangtsʰˤaŋ granary

說文解字

《說文》:“倉,穀藏也,倉黃取而藏之,故謂之倉。从食省,口象倉形。仺,奇字倉。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica