蔑称
miè​chēng

pejorative

蔑 miè disdain

Depicts a person with eyebrows (𦰋) being struck by a weapon (戈).

Components

𦰋
𦰋 Iconic component
méng eyesight obscured

Depicts a person with eyebrows.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𦰋 than it was in ancient scripts.
戈
戈 Iconic component
gē spear

Depicts a weapon.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

蠛襪衊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmetmˤet destroy; not have

說文解字

《說文》：“蔑，勞，目無精也。从，人勞則蔑然，从戍。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.297-298
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

称 chēng, chèn call Simplified

Original meaning: measure weight

Simplified form of 稱. Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 爯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "measure weight". The meaning later shifted to "lift", "raise", "praise", "reputation", and "call".

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

Alludes to measuring the weight of grain.

尔
尔 Simplified component
ěr you

Shorthand for the 爯 component in the traditional character 稱.

Sources

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

稱 chēng, chèn call Traditional

Original meaning: measure weight

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 爯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "measure weight". The meaning later shifted to "lift", "raise", "praise", "reputation", and "call".

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

Alludes to measuring the weight of grain.

爯
爯 SoundMeaning component
chēng, chèn, chèng pick up

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhingtʰəŋ weigh; evaluate; call
tsyhingHmə-tʰəŋ-s steelyard

說文解字

《說文》：“稱，銓也。从禾，爯聲。春分而禾生，日夏至晷景可度，禾有秒，秋分而秒定。律數十二，秒而當一分，十分而寸。其以為重，十二粟為一分，十二分為一銖。故諸程品皆从禾。”

Sources

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