jiǎn​kuò

compendious

jiǎn simple Simplified

Original meaning: bamboo strips for writing

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bamboo strips for writing". The meaning later shifted to "letter", "concise", and "simple".

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
jiān, jian, jiàn space

Sources

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

kuò include, enclose

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like .

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkoːd

說文解字

《說文》:“,絜也。从手,聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

jiǎn simple Traditional

Original meaning: bamboo strips for writing

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bamboo strips for writing". The meaning later shifted to "letter", "concise", and "simple".

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
jiān, jian, jiàn space

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkeanXkˤre[n]ʔ bamboo slip for writing
keanXkˤre[n]ʔ select, large-minded, etc.

說文解字

《說文》:“簡,牒也。从竹,間聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica