横征暴敛
héng​zhēng​bào​liǎn

extortionate taxation

横 héng across Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 橫.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黄
黄 Sound component
huáng yellow

說文解字

闌木也。从木黃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

征 zhēng journey

Originally written as 正. Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 正 represents the sound. In simplified Chinese 征 is also used to mean "invade", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 徵.

Components

彳
彳 Meaning component
chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

正
正 SoundIconic component
zhèng, zheng, zhēng correct

Depicts a foot walking towards a city.

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 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 (0 of 1 verified)

惩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyengteŋ to correct; to go on a punitive expedition

說文解字

《說文》：“，正行也。从辵，正聲。征，或从彳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.121
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

暴 bào violent

Original meaning: expose to sun

Depicts two hands (共) laying out rice (米) to dry under the sun (日), representing the meaning "expose to sun", now written as 曝. The meaning later shifted to "expose", "injure", and "violent".

Components

日
日 Iconic component
rì sun
共
共 Iconic component
gòng together with

Depicts two hands.

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

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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

爆瀑曝

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

瀑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbawH[b]ˤawk-s violent
buwkm-pˤawk expose to sun

說文解字

《說文》：“曓，疾有所趣也。从日出廾之。”

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)

敛 liǎn, liàn, lián draw back Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 斂.

Components

攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

潋蔹

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

橫 héng across Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黃 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黃
黃 Sound component
huáng yellow

Character Evolution

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-SagarthwængC.ɡʷˤraŋcrosswise; horizontal
Zhengzhangɡʷraːŋ
ɡʷraːŋs
kʷaːŋ
Unicodehuæng
guɑ̀ng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

斂 draw back Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

僉
僉 Sound component
together

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蘞

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljemX[r][a]mʔgather
ljemH[r][a]m-sdress a corpse
Zhengzhangɡ·ramʔ
ɡ·rams
Unicodeliɛ̀m
liɛ̌m

說文解字

收也。从攴僉聲。

Sources

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