潘多拉魔盒
pān​duō​lā​mó​hé

Pandora's box

潘 pān, pàn, bō surname

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

番
番 Sound component
fān to take turns

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 (Wu) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

藩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰaːn
Unicodepɑn

說文解字

淅米汁也。一曰水名，在河南滎陽。从水番聲。

Sources

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

多 duō much

Depicts two pieces of meat together to convey the meaning "much" or "plentiful". In ancient China meat was a rare treat. Unrelated to 夕.

Components

肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 than it was in ancient scripts.
肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Depicts a piece of meat.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 6 verified)

移爹侈哆黟眵

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

够夥奓夠

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartta[t.l]ˤaj many

說文解字

《說文》：“多，重也。从重夕。夕者，相繹也，故為多。重夕為多，重日為。，古文多。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.557
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

拉 lā, la pull

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 立 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

立
立 Sound component
lì stand
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

啦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlop[r]ˤəp break

說文解字

《說文》：“拉，摧也。从手，立聲。”

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)

魔 mó demon

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 麻 represents the sound.

Components

麻
麻 Sound component
má, ma hemp
鬼
鬼 Meaning component
guǐ ghost

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːl

說文解字

《說文新附》：“魔，鬼也。从鬼，麻聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

盒 hé small box or case

Phonosemantic compound. 皿 represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound.

Components

合
合 Sound component
hé to join
皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡuːb

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang