珍惜
zhēn​xī HSK5

cherish

珍 zhēn precious

Phonosemantic compound. 玉 represents the meaning and 㐱 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

jade

㐱
㐱 Sound component
zhěn thick hair

Character Evolution

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 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrintrə[n] precious thing

說文解字

《說文》：“珍，寶也。从玉，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)

惜 xī pity

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart
昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartsjek[s]Ak regret; alas

說文解字

《說文》：“惜，痛也。从心，昔聲。”

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)