真枪实弹 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

zhēn real

Original meaning: precious

Based on the original meaning "precious", now written as 珍. The meaning later shifted to "genuine" and "true".

Components

diān, tiǎn to fall forwards

Based on an ancient variant of 殄.

Change in sound

真 and 𠂈 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
真 *ti[n]
𠂈 *[d]ˤə[n]ʔ

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠂈 than it was in ancient scripts.

貝 Meaning component

bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were considered precious and were used as currency.

丁 Sound component

dīng cubes

Change in sound

真 and 丁 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
真 *ti[n]
丁 *tˤeŋ

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丁 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (7 of 15 verified)

镇慎填颠滇嗔缜稹瞋鎮禛顛瑱鬒縝

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyin	ti[n]	true, real

說文解字

《說文》：“真，僊人變形而登天也。从，从目，从。八，所乘載也。，古文真。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.643-644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)

qiāng gun, spear Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 仓 represents the sound. Simplified form of 槍.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

仓 Sound component

cāng granary

Sources

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

shí, shi real Simplified

Original meaning: rich; plentiful

Simplified form of 實. Depicts a string of money (貫) under a roof (宀). Based on the original meaning "rich; plentiful". The meaning later expanded to "solid", "fruit", and "true". The 貫 component was changed to 头 for simplification.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

头 Simplified component

tóu, tou head

Shorthand for the 貫 component in the traditional character 實.

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

dàn, tán, tan bullet, pellet Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 彈.

Components

弓 Meaning component

gōng bow

单 Sound component

dān single

Sources

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

qiāng gun, spear Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 倉 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

倉 Sound component

cāng granary

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		sʰaŋ
		sʰraːŋ
Unicode	tsiɑng

說文解字

《說文》：“槍，歫也。从木，倉聲。一曰槍欀也。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shí, shi real Traditional

Original meaning: rich; plentiful

Depicts a string of money (貫) under a roof (宀). Based on the original meaning "rich; plentiful". The meaning later expanded to "solid", "fruit", and "true".