樊笼
fán​lóng

birdcage

樊 fán, fàn a railing

Depicts two hands (𠬜) climbing over a fence (棥). 棥 also represents the sound.

Components

棥
棥 SoundIconic component
fán a railing

Depicts a fence (爻) between two trees (林).

𠬜
𠬜 Iconic component
pān to climb

Depicts two hands facing away from each other. Modern form looks like 大.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠬜 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Component uses

Sound (2)

攀礬

Iconic (1)

攀

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangban

說文解字

《說文》：“樊，鷙不行也。从，从棥，棥亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.203漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

笼 lóng, long, lǒng cage Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 龙 represents the sound. Simplified form of 籠.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

龙
龙 Sound component
lóng dragon

Sources

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

籠 lóng, long, lǒng cage Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 龍 represents the sound.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

龍
龍 Sound component
lóng dragon

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartluwngk.rˤoŋ cage, coop
luwngXk.rˤoŋʔ basket; cage

說文解字

《說文》：“籠，舉土器也。一曰笭也。从竹，龍聲。”

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)