汶川
Wèn​chuān

Wenchuan

汶 wèn, wén, mín a river in Shandong province

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

文
文 Sound component
wén writing

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmwonmˤə[n]dirty
Zhengzhangmrɯn
mɯn
mɯns
Unicodemiə̀n

說文解字

水。出琅邪朱虛東泰山，東入濰。从水文聲。桑欽說：汶水出泰山萊蕪，西南入泲。

Sources

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

川 chuān stream

Pictograph of a river.

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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 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 (4 of 10 verified)

顺训圳驯氚钏訓順馴釧

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

圳侃夼巟

Iconic (1)

㐬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhwent.l̥u[n] (MC -jwen is irregular)stream, river

說文解字

《說文》：“川，貫穿通流水也。《虞書》曰：‘濬巜距川’，言深巜之水會為川也。”

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)