掩卷
yǎn​juàn

close book

掩 yǎn to cover (with the hand)

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 奄 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

奄
奄 SoundMeaning component
yǎn, yān to enclose

奄 also represents the meaning.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqromʔ
Unicodeqyɛ̌m

說文解字

《說文》：“掩，斂也，小上曰掩。从手，奄聲。”

Sources

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

卷 juǎn, juàn curl, roll

Phonosemantic compound. 龹 represents the sound and 卩 represents the meaning.

Components

龹
龹 Sound component
juǎn to roll rice into a ball
卩
卩 Meaning component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person with bent knees.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

圈倦蜷绻鬈锩綣惓捲

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

圈倦蜷鬈捲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjwenX[k](r)o[n]ʔ roll (v.)
gjwen[g]ʷren handsome

說文解字

《說文》：“卷，厀曲也。从卪，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)