苯乙烯
běn​yǐ​xī

styrene

苯 běn benzene

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

本
本 Sound component
běn root

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpɯːnʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

乙 yǐ second

Depicts a stream of water.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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 6 verified)

艺亿忆虱钇穵

Distinguishing (1)

乾

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

氹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'itqrət 2nd heavenly stem

說文解字

《說文》：“乙，象春艸木冤曲而出，陰氣尚彊，其出乙乙也。與丨同意，乙承甲，象人頸。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.959
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

烯 xī alkene

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

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
希
希 Sound component
xī hope

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode