Depicts two people (夫) standing side-by-side, one person higher and one person lower. Represents one person taking the place of another. The 曰 component was added at the bottom to distinguish from 並, which also depicts two people standing side-by-side.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (0 of 1 verified)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | thejH | n̥ˤi[t]-s | discard |
說文解字
《說文》：“，廢，一偏下也。从竝，白聲。暜，或从曰。，或从兟，从曰。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李学勤《字源》p.922-923
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Pictograph of a person with a protruding midsection.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | syin | n̥i[ŋ] | body; self |
說文解字
《說文》：“身，躳也。象人之身。从人，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)
Original meaning: flow out
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 寅 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flow out". The meaning later shifted to "spread", "develop", and "perform".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yenX | N-q(r)anʔ | flow out, extend |
說文解字
《說文》：“演，長流也。一曰水名。从水，寅聲。”
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)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: round
Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | hjwen | ɢʷ<r>en | circle; round |
| hjun | [ɢ]ʷə[n] | (a particle) |
說文解字
《說文》：“員，物數也。从貝，口聲。鼎，籀文从鼎。”
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)