ài​dé​méng

Edmund

ài love Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and (friend) represents the meaning.

Components

Sound component
choke on something eaten
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Simplified component
characterless component

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

virtue

Originally written as , depicting a straight () heart (). The (walk) component was added later.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
virtue

Original form of .

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttoktˤək virtue

說文解字

《說文》:“德,升也。从彳,聲。”

Sources

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

méng, mēng, měng cover

Original meaning: a parasitic vine

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally the name of a plant, later meanings coincide with the original meaning of (to cover).

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "a parasitic vine", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
méng to cover

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmuwngmˤoŋ cover (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“蒙,王女也。从艸,冡聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李學勤 《字源》 p.58
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

ài love Traditional

Originally a phonosemantic compound, with representing the sound and (heart) representing the meaning. Later the component was added.

Components

Sound component
zān hairpin
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
Unknown component
zhǐ, zhōng go

is a component form of . The purpose of this component is unclear.

Character Evolution

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ojH[q]ˤə[p]-s to love; to grudge (< ‘draw close to oneself’?)

說文解字

《說文》:“愛,行皃。从夊,聲。”

Sources

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