松针
sōng​zhēn

pine needle

松 sōng pine tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 公 represents the sound. In simplified Chinese this character also means "relax, loosen", but in traditional Chinese this meaning is written as 鬆.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
公
公 Sound component
gōng public

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

淞凇崧菘鬆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjowngsə.ɢoŋ pine (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“松，木也。从木，公聲。，松或从容。”

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)

针 zhēn needle Simplified

Simplified form of 針. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

十
十 Sound component
shí ten
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

針 zhēn needle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal
十
十 Sound component
shí ten
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyimt.[k]əm needle

Sources

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