街坊
jiē​fāng

neighbor

街 jiē street

Phonosemantic compound. 行 represents the meaning and 圭 represents the sound.

Components

行
行 Meaning component
xíng, háng walk
圭
圭 Sound component
guī jade pointed at top
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkea[k]ˤre road-crossing

說文解字

《說文》：“街，四通道也。从行，圭聲。”

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)

坊 fang neighborhood

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

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
方
方 Sound component
fāng, fang square

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjang[b]aŋdike
Zhengzhangpaŋ
baŋ
Unicodebiɑng

說文解字

邑里之名。从土方聲。古通用埅。

Sources

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