彭丽媛
Péng Lì​yuán

Peng Liyuan

彭 péng, páng, bāng name of an ancient country

Original meaning: sound of a drum

Depicts the sound (彡) coming from a drum (壴). Based on the original meaning "sound of a drum". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

壴
壴 Iconic component
zhù drum
彡
彡 Iconic component
shān, xiǎn hair

Used here to depict sound coming from the drum.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

膨澎嘭蟛甏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbaengC.[b]ˤraŋ (place name)

說文解字

《說文》：“彭，鼓聲也。从壴，彡聲。”

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)

丽 lì beautiful Simplified

Simplified form of 麗. Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers. The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

麗
鹿 Deleted component
lù deer

The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

俪骊郦鹂逦鲡酾

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːls

Sources

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

媛 yuàn, yuán beauty

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 爰 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
爰
爰 Sound component
yuán pull, draw, lead on

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-SagarthjwenH[ɢ]ʷra[n]-sa beauty
Zhengzhangɢʷans
ɢʷan

說文解字

美女也。人所援也。从女从爰。爰，引也。《詩》曰：“邦之媛兮。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

麗 lì beautiful Traditional

Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

鹿
鹿 Iconic component
lù deer

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

鱺儷曬灑鸝驪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlejH[r]ˤe-s symmetrical

說文解字

《說文》：“麗，旅行也。鹿之性見食急則必旅行。从鹿，丽聲。《禮》‘麗皮納聘’，蓋鹿皮也。，古文；，篆文麗字。”

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)