hū​shǎn

flicker

suddenly

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
wù, mò must not
Change in sound
Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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 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 (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwotm̥ˤut careless; confused

說文解字

《說文》:“忽,忘也。从心,勿聲。”

Sources

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

shǎn flash Simplified

Original meaning: peek

Simplified form of . Depicts a person () peeking through the space in the middle of a door (). Based on the original meaning "peek". The meaning later shifted to "dodge" and "flash".

Components

Iconic component
mén, men door
Iconic component
rén, ren person

Sources

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

shǎn flash Traditional

Original meaning: peek

Depicts a person () peeking through the space in the middle of a door (). Based on the original meaning "peek". The meaning later shifted to "dodge" and "flash".

Components

Iconic component
mén, men door
Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanghljamʔ
hljams
Unicodeshiɛ̌m

說文解字

《說文》:“閃,闚頭門中也。从人在門中。”

Sources

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