独立选民
dú​lì​xuǎn​mín

independent voter

独 dú alone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound. Simplified form of 獨.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

虫
虫 Simplified component
chóng bug, insect

Shorthand for the phonetic 蜀 component in the traditional character 獨.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

立 lì stand

Pictograph of a person standing on the ground.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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 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 11 verified)

位拉粒泣垃笠飒翊昱砬颯

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

站端竭靖竣砬竘

Iconic (3)

位竝並

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlipk.rəp stand (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“立，住也。从大，立一之上。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.782-783
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

选 xuǎn choose Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 先 represents the sound. Simplified form of 選.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

先
先 Sound component
xiān first

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

民 mín people

Original meaning: slave

Pictograph of an eye (目) being poked with something sharp. In ancient China, slaves were sometimes punished by blinding them with a sharp object. Based on the original meaning "slave". The meaning later shifted to "common person".

Components

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 目 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a sharp object poking an eye.


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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

眠抿泯岷珉苠昬敃

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

氓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjinmi[ŋ] people

說文解字

《說文》：“民，眾萌也。从古文之象。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.855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)

獨 dú alone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

蜀
蜀 Sound component
shǔ short name for Sichuan
Change in sound

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwk[d]ˤok alone; only

說文解字

《說文》：“獨，犬相得而鬭也。从犬，蜀聲。羊為羣，犬為獨也。一曰北囂山有獨獸，如虎，白身，豕鬣，尾如馬。”

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)

選 xuǎn choose Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 巽 represents the sound.

Components

辶
辶 Meaning component
chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

巽
巽 Sound component
xùn, zhuàn obedient

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjwenX[s]o[n]ʔ choose; count
sjwenX[s]o[r]ʔ count (v.)
sjwenH[s]o[n]ʔ-s even, orderly

說文解字

遣也。从辵、巽，巽遣之；巽亦聲。一曰選，擇也。

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)