苍生涂炭
cāng​shēng​tú​tàn

widespread suffering

苍 cāng blue Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 仓 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蒼.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

仓
仓 Sound component
cāng granary

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

生 shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

Components

屮
屮 Iconic component
chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 屮 than it was in ancient scripts.
一
一 Iconic component
yī one

Used here to depict the ground.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 11 verified)

性青星省胜姓牲甥笙旌眚

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

靑甤甦產産

Deleted (1)

产

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》：“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.506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)

涂 tu, tú smear, spread, paint Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 余 represents the sound. Simplified form of 塗.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

余
余 Sound component
yú I

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

塗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdulˤa path

說文解字

《說文》：“涂，水。出益州牧靡南山，西北入澠。从水，余聲。”

Sources

Character origin
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)

炭 tàn charcoal

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 岸 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire

Charcoal is made from burning wood.

岸
岸 SoundRemnant component
àn shore, bank

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

碳

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

羰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthanH[tʰ]ˤa[n]-s charcoal, coal

說文解字

《說文》：“炭，燒木餘也。从火，岸省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蒼 cāng blue Traditional

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

倉
倉 Sound component
cāng granary

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshang[tsʰ]ˤaŋdeep blue or green
Zhengzhangsʰaːŋ
sʰaːŋʔ
Unicodetsɑng

說文解字

艸色也。从艸倉聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

塗 smear, spread, paint Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 涂 represents the sound.

Components

涂
涂 Sound component
tu, tú smear, spread, paint
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

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-Sagartdulˤa to plaster
dulˤa road

說文解字

《說文新附》：“塗，泥也。从土，涂聲。”

Sources

Character origin
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)