番茄酱
fān​qié​jiàng

ketchup

番 fān to take turns

Original meaning: animal's paw

Depicts an animal's claw (釆) with their paw shown. 釆 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "animal's paw", now written as 蹯. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

釆
釆 SoundIconic component
biàn, biǎn distinguish

Used here to depict an animal's claw.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an animal's paw. Modern form looks like unrelated 田.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

翻播潘幡蕃蟠燔鄱皤蹯

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

燔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpapˤar martial
phjonpʰar a turn, a time

說文解字

《說文》：“番，獸足謂之番。从采，田象其掌。番或从足、从煩。，古文番。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.89
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

茄 jiā eggplant

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 加 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

加
加 Sound component
jiā add

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡa
ɡal
kraːl

說文解字

芙蕖莖。从艸加聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

酱 jiàng any jam-like or paste-like food Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 将 represents the sound. Simplified form of 醬.

Components

将
将 SoundRemnant component
jiāng, jiàng will
酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine

wine

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

醬 jiàng any jam-like or paste-like food Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 將 represents the sound.

Components

將
將 Sound component
jiāng, jiàng take
酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsjangH[ts]aŋ-s sauce

說文解字

《說文》：“，盬也。从肉，从酉。酒以和也。爿聲。，古文。，籀文。”

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)