měng​shòu

beast

měng violent

Components

Meaning component
quǎn dog

dog

Sound component
mèng first in series

Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmraːŋʔ
Unicodemæ̌ng

說文解字

健犬也。从犬孟聲。

Sources

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

shòu beast Simplified

Original meaning: to hunt

Depicts using a hunting tool () and a dog () to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of . was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast". The traditional component was deleted for simplification.

Components

dān single
kǒu, kou mouth
Deleted component
quǎn dog

The traditional component was deleted for simplification.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1270劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 14, p.393何琳儀《戰國古文字典:戰國文字聲系》p.218
Readings & variants
Unicode

shòu beast Traditional

Original meaning: to hunt

Depicts using a hunting tool () and a dog () to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of . was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast".

Components

Iconic component
dān single

Depicts a hunting tool.

kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyuwHs.tʰu(ʔ)-s (wild) animal

說文解字

《說文》:“獸,守備者。从嘼,从犬。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1270劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 14, p.393何琳儀《戰國古文字典:戰國文字聲系》p.218
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica