běng, bēng bind Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
péng friend

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

ba, bā to wish

Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of . In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaepˤra snake
paepˤra [place name]

說文解字

《說文》:“巴,蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

diào to hang

Original meaning: silk streamers used for arrows

Variant of . Depicts a person carrying silk streamers used for wrapping around arrows with. Based on the original meaning "silk streamers used for arrows", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "to hang" and "to hang a person".

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts silk streamers used for wrapping around arrows with.

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttewHtˤ[e]wk-sgrieved; condole
Zhengzhangtiːwɢs

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.639-640黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.838-839漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

kǎo torture and interrogate

To question  by hand  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand
SoundMeaning component
kǎo examine

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰluːʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

běng, bēng bind Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
bēng rupture

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpɛngpˤrəŋto bind around
Zhengzhangprɯːŋ
prɯːŋ

說文解字

束也。从糸崩聲。《墨子》曰:“禹葬會稽,桐棺三寸,葛以繃之。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica