yá​yín​yán

gingivitis

tooth

Depicts top and bottom teeth touching each other.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngaem-ɢˤ<r>a tooth

說文解字

《說文》:“牙,牡齒也。象上下相錯之形。,古文牙。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.139-140漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

kěn, yín, qiǎn gums Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 齿 represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

齿
齿 Meaning component
chǐ teeth
Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

yán flame

Combination of two fires ().

Components

Iconic component
huǒ fire
Iconic component
huǒ fire

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
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 12 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjem[ɢ]ʷ(r)am burn, blazing

說文解字

《說文》:“炎,火光上也。从重火。”

Sources

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

gums Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chǐ teeth
Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰrɯːnʔ
kʰɯːnʔ
ŋɯn

說文解字

齧也。从齒𥃩聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica