曾
céngzēngZēng HSK3

already

← Back to history
approved by Peter Olson · Aug 23, 2021, 02:27 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Aug 23, 2021, 02:27 AM

verify

Changed fields: isVerified, customSources

Pictograph of a cooking pot. Based on the original meaning "cauldron; cooking pot", now written as 甑. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzong[dz]ˤəŋ (adverb indicating past time)
tsong[ts]ˤəŋ remote (ancestor)

說文解字

《說文》：“曾，詞之舒也。从八，从曰，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)