Original meaning: loud sound
Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the sound and 口 represents the original meaning "loud sound". The meaning later extended to "great", "vast".
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hwong | [ɢ]ʷˤəŋ | vast |
說文解字
《說文》：“弘，弓聲也。从弓，厶聲。厶，古文肱字。”
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: river in Shandong
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 台 represents the sound. Originally referred to a river in Shandong province. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dri | C.lrə | regulate, arrange |
| driH | lrə-s | regulate, arrange |
說文解字
《說文》：“治，水。出東萊曲城陽丘山，南入海。从水，台聲。”
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)