欢饮
huān​yǐn

drink happily

欢 huan, huān happy Simplified

Simplified form of 歡. Phonosemantic compound. 欠 represents the meaning and 雚 represents the sound. 欠 (yawn) is a pictograph of a person with an open mouth, used here to represent a person joyfully laughing.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 雚 component in the traditional character 歡.

欠
欠 Iconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person opening their mouth to laugh.

Sources

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

饮 yǐn drink Simplified

Simplified form of 飲. Pictograph of a person with an open mouth (欠) drinking from a wine vessel (酉). 欠 also represents the sound. The 酉 (wine) component and the open mouth was later reanalyzed as 饣 (eat).

Components

饣
饣 Iconic component
shí eat

饣 is a component form of 食. Used here to depict an open mouth drinking from a wine vessel (酉). Later reanalyzed as 饣 (eat).

欠
欠 SoundIconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person bending over with their mouth open.

Change in sound

Sources

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

歡 huan, huān happy Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 欠 represents the meaning and 雚 represents the sound. 欠 (yawn) is a pictograph of a person with an open mouth, used here to represent a person joyfully laughing.

Components

雚
雚 Sound component
guàn, huán heron
欠
欠 Iconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person opening their mouth to laugh.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartxwanqʷʰˤar rejoice; joyous

說文解字

《說文》：“歡，喜樂也。从欠，雚聲。”

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)

飲 yǐn drink Traditional

Pictograph of a person with an open mouth (欠) drinking from a wine vessel (酉). 欠 also represents the sound. The 酉 (wine) component and the open mouth was later reanalyzed as 飠 (eat).

Components

飠
飠 Iconic component
eat

飠 is a component form of 食. Used here to depict an open mouth drinking from a wine vessel (酉). Later reanalyzed as 飠 (eat).

欠
欠 SoundIconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person bending over with their mouth open.

Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'imXq(r)[u]mʔ drink (v.)
'imHq(r)[ə]mʔ-s give to drink

說文解字

《說文》：“，歠也。从欠，酓聲。”

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)