Hú Xī​jìn

Hu Xijin

beard

Original meaning: flesh under the chin of a cow

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flesh under the chin of a cow", which later shifted to "beard" (now written as in traditional characters). Also used pejoratively to refer to foreigners from central Asia, who tended to have more beards than Han Chinese people. This meaning also shifted to "reckless" and "outrageous".

Components

Sound component
old
Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "flesh under the chin of a cow", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 13 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthu[g]ˤa foreigners in the north

說文解字

《說文》:“胡,牛垂也。从肉,古聲。”

Sources

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

tin Simplified

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

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

is a component form of .

Sound component
easy

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

jìn advance Simplified

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

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

jǐng well

Simplified from in the traditional character .

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

tin Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

is a component form of .

Sound component
easy

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartseks-lˤekgive
seks.lˤektin
Zhengzhangsleːɡ
Unicodesek

說文解字

銀鉛之閒也。从金易聲。

Sources

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

jìn go forward Traditional

represents the meaning and depicts a bird, which is unable to walk backwards.

Components

Meaning component
chuò walk

is a component form of .

Iconic component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Used here because birds are not able to walk backwards.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsinH[ts][i][n]-s advance (v.)

說文解字

登也。从辵,閵省聲。

Sources

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