běn​bāng​cài

Shanghai cuisine

běn root

Addition of a horizontal line toward the bottom of (tree) to represent the roots of the tree.

Components

Iconic component
tree
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts roots.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpwonXC.pˤə[n]ʔ tree trunk

說文解字

《說文》:“本,木下曰本。从木,一在其下。楍,古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.484-485漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

bāng help Simplified

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of . Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
jīn cloth
Sound component
bāng nation

Sources

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

cài vegetables

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
cǎi gather, pick

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshojHs.r̥ˤəʔ-s vegetables

說文解字

艸之可食者。从艸采聲。

Sources

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

bāng help Traditional

Original meaning: side of a shoe

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "side of a shoe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
silks
Sound component
fēng letter

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpaːŋ

Sources

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