梁唐晋汉周书
Liáng Táng Jìn Hàn Zhōu​shū

Five Dynasties History

梁 liáng, liang bridge

Phonosemantic compound. 氵and 木 represent the meaning and 刅 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
刅
刅 Sound component
chuāng to create
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

粱墚樑

Remnant (0 of 1 verified)

粱

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

樑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljangraŋ beam; bridge

說文解字

《說文》：“梁，水橋也。从木，从水，刅聲。渿，古文。”

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)

唐 táng exaggerate

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 庚 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
庚
庚 Sound component
gēng 7th heavenly stem
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 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 7 verified)

糖塘搪瑭醣溏螗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthangr̥ˤaŋ name of first Shang ruler
dang[N-]rˤaŋ exaggerate; great
dang[N].rˤaŋ 棠棣 cherry tree

說文解字

《說文》：“唐，大言也。从口，庚聲。，古文唐，从口、昜。”

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)

晋 jìn advance Simplified

An advance to the second 亚 day 日

Components

亚
亚 Meaning component
yà Asia, sub-
日
日 Meaning component
rì sun

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

缙戬縉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodetzìn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

汉 hàn Chinese people Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound. In simplified characters, the 𦰩 component is abbreviated to 又.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 漢.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

周 zhōu cycle

Original meaning: to carve jade

Depicts a carved jade object, now written as 彫/琱. The meaning later shifted to "circumference" and "cycle". Later the 口 component was added when 周 was used to refer to a geographical region to indicate that the character was only "mouthed", i.e. used for its sound. In simplified Chinese 周 is also used to mean "week", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 週.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a jade object that has been carved.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 18 verified)

调雕绸稠碉凋惆調啁鲷鵰週赒蜩鯛椆綢賙

Iconic (1)

畫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtiw Zhōu (dynasty and place)
tsyuwtiw cycle; all around

說文解字

《說文》：“周，密也。从用、口。，古文周字从古文及。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.99-100林志強《《文源》評注》p.134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)

书 shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿
聿 MeaningSimplified component
yù writing brush
者
者 SoundSimplified component
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Sources

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

晉 advance Traditional

A platform 一 raised on stilts 厶

Components

一
一 Meaning component
yī one
厶
厶 Meaning component
sī, mǒu private, selfish
厶
厶 Meaning component
sī, mǒu private, selfish
一
一 Meaning component
yī one
日
日 Meaning component
rì sun

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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-SagarttsinHtsi[n]-sJìn (place name)
Zhengzhangʔsins

說文解字

進也。日出萬物進。从日从臸。《易》曰：“明出地上，㬜。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

漢 hàn Chinese people Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

𦰩
𦰩 Sound component
jiān to sigh
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxanHn̥ˤar-s (W dialect: *n̥- > MC x-, *-r > *-n)(river name)

說文解字

《說文》：“漢，漾也，東為滄浪水。从水，難省聲。，古文。”

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)

書 shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿
聿 Meaning component
yù writing brush
者
者 Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyos-ta write

說文解字

《說文》：“書，箸也。从聿，者聲。”

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)