江阴市 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

jiāng large river

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

工 Sound component

gōng work

Change in sound

江 and 工 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
江 *kˤroŋ
工 *kˤoŋ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

鸿鴻茳

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kaewng	kˤroŋ	(Yangzi) river

說文解字

《說文》：“江，水。出蜀湔氐徼外崏山，入海。从水，工聲。”

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)

yīn dark Simplified

The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳. In Chinese philosophy, the moon (月) corresponds to Yin (阴) and the sun (日) corresponds to Yang (阳).

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

月 Simplified component

yuè, yue moon

Simplified from the traditional 陰. Used here since the moon corresponds to the 'Yin' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

荫

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

荫

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shì market

Origin unclear. 止 represents the sound.

Components

止 Sound component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Change in form

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

兮 Unknown component

xī exclamatory particle

The original purpose of this component is unclear.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (2)

闹鬧

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

柿铈

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyiX	C.[d]əʔ	market (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“市，買賣所之也。市有垣，从冂，从乁。乁，古文及，象物相及也。之省聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.499-450
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

yīn dark Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 今 and 云 represent the sound, while 阝 and 云 represent the meaning.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜. Depicts hills blocking sunlight.

今 Sound component

jīn now

云 Sound Meaning component

yún clouds

Depicts clouds darkening the sky.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蔭

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

蔭

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	'im	q(r)um	dark

說文解字

闇也。水之南、山之北也。从𨸏侌聲。

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)

江 jiāng large river

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

阴 yīn dark Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Sources

市 shì market

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Meaning (2)

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

陰 yīn dark Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

jiāng large river

yīn dark Simplified

shì market

yīn dark Traditional