běn​guàn

ancestral home

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

guàn a string of 1000 coins Simplified

Simplified form of . Depicts a string of shells (), which were used as currency in ancient China.

Components

SoundIconic component
guàn pierce through

Depicts a string through a shell ().

Iconic component
bèi sea shell

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Sources

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

guàn a string of 1000 coins Traditional

Depicts a string of shells (), which were used as currency in ancient China.

Components

SoundIconic component
guàn pierce through

Depicts a string through a shell ().

Iconic component
bèi sea shell

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1)

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwankˤo[n] pass through the center
kwanHkˤon-s pass through the center

說文解字

《說文》:“貫,錢貝之貫。从毌、貝。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.593漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica