jiè​bèi​sēn​yán

heavily guarded

jiè warn

Depicts two hands () holding a weapon () guarding against danger.

Components

Meaning component
spear
Meaning component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkeajHkˤrək-s
(~ kˤrək)
be on guard

說文解字

《說文》:“戒,警也。从廾持戈,以戒不虞。”

Sources

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

bèi prepare Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts preparing a container for arrows to equip oneself for battle.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

sēn forest

Combination of three trees ().

Components

Iconic component
tree
Iconic component
tree
Iconic component
tree

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsrims.rəm dense trees

說文解字

《說文》:“森,木多皃。从林,从木。讀若曾參之參。”

Sources

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

yán strict Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "exaggerate". The meaning later shifted to "extreme", "severe", and "strict". The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Components

niè, yì talkative
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Deleted component
gǎn to dare

The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

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

bèi prepare Traditional

Depicts a person () preparing a container for arrows to equip himself for battle.

Components

Iconic component
rén person

is a component form of .

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbijH[b]rək-s complete (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》:“備,慎也。从人,聲。,古文備。”

Sources

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

yán strict Traditional

Original meaning: exaggerate

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "exaggerate". The meaning later shifted to "extreme", "severe", and "strict".

Components

Meaning component
niè, yì talkative
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Sound component
gǎn to dare

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 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 (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjaemŋ(r)am stern, majestic

說文解字

《說文》:“嚴,教命急也。从吅,聲。,古文。”

Sources

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