款
kuǎn HSK5

item, funds

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approved by Peter Olson · Dec 24, 2021, 06:18 PM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Dec 24, 2021, 06:18 PM

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Changed fields: gloss, hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources, strokeDataSimp, fragmentsSimp, historicalImages

Original meaning: desire to have something

Phonosemantic compound. 柰 represents the sound and 欠 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "desire to have something". The meaning later shifted to "funds" and "item".

Components

柰
柰 Sound component
Change in sound
欠
欠 Meaning component
Change in meaning
欠 hints at the original meaning of 款, "desire to have something", which is no longer the most common meaning of 款 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰloːnʔ
Unicodekuɑn

說文解字

《說文》:“,意有所欲也。从欠,祟欠省。歀,或从柰。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.768
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica