气贯长虹
qì​guàn​cháng​hóng

heroic

气 qì, qi air Simplified

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 23 verified)

汽氧氛氢氯氨氮氖氟氦氲氰氤氩氚氪氘氡氙氕氳氜氫

Sound (4)

汽忾饩氣

Iconic (1)

氣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s (inhaled thing:) breath, air, vapors

說文解字

《說文》：“气，雲气也。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.58-59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)

贯 guàn a string of 1000 coins Simplified

Simplified form of 貫. Depicts a string of shells (貝), which were used as currency in ancient China.

Components

毌
毌 SoundIconic component
guàn pierce through

Depicts a string through a shell (貝).

贝
贝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

惯掼

Sources

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

长 zhǎng, cháng long Simplified

Pictograph of an old person with long hair using a cane to walk. The simplified character 长 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 長.

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

张帐胀账怅苌伥枨

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

虹 hóng, hòng, gòng rainbow

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound. Originally was a pictograph of a creature, with two heads on each end, that resembled a rainbow.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
工
工 Sound component
gōng work

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthuwngm-kˤoŋ rainbow
kaewngHkˤroŋ-s rainbow

說文解字

《說文》：“虹，螮蝀也。狀似蟲。从虫，工聲。《明堂》、《月令》曰：‘虹始見。’”

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)

氣 qì, qi air Traditional

Original meaning: gift of grain

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 气 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "gift of grain", now written as 餼. The current meaning "air" is a phonetic loan.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
气
气 SoundIconic component
qì, qi air

Depicts a gust of air.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

餼愾滊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhj+jHC.qʰəp-s cloudy vapors
xj+jHqʰət-s to present food

說文解字

《說文》：“氣，饋客芻米也。从米，气聲。《春秋傳》曰：‘齊人來氣諸矦。’，氣或从既；餼，氣或从食。”

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)

貫 guàn a string of 1000 coins Traditional

Depicts a string of shells (貝), which were used as currency in ancient China.

Components

毌
毌 SoundIconic component
guàn pierce through

Depicts a string through a shell (貝).

貝
貝 Iconic component
bèi sea shell

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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

Component uses

Meaning (1)

實

Sound (1)

慣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwankˤo[n] pass through the center
kwanHkˤon-s pass through the center

說文解字

《說文》：“貫，錢貝之貫。从毌、貝。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.593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)

長 zhǎng, cháng long Traditional

Pictograph of an old person with long hair using a cane to walk.

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 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 (1 of 6 verified)

脹悵倀帳張賬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjangCə-[N]-traŋ long (adj.)
trjangXtraŋʔ grow; elder

說文解字

《說文》：“長，久遠也。从兀，从匕。兀者，高遠意也。久則變化。亾聲。●者倒亾也。，古文長；，亦古文長。”

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)