童真
tóng​zhēn

innocence

童 tóng child

Original meaning: male criminal

Depicts a tool (辛) piercing through a person's eye (目). This was usually given as punishment to criminals. 東 was added later to represent the sound. Based on the original meaning "male criminal". The meaning later shifted to "boy servant" (now written as 僮) and "child".

Components

辛
辛 Iconic component
xīn laborious

Depicts a tool for torture.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 辛 than it was in ancient scripts.
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.
東
東 Sound component
dōng east

Modern form looks like 里.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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 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 9 verified)

撞幢憧瞳潼僮疃艟鐘

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwng[d]ˤoŋ boy

說文解字

《說文》：“童，男有辠曰奴，奴曰童。女曰妾。从，重省聲。，籀文童，中與中同从。，以為古文疾字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.166漢語多功能字庫陳靖《兩周古文字編注》p.855
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

真 zhēn real

Original meaning: precious

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

Components

𠂈
𠂈 Sound component
diān, tiǎn to fall forwards

Based on an ancient variant of 殄.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠂈 than it was in ancient scripts.
貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

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

丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes
Change in sound
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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

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 ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyinti[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)