诞生
dàn​shēng HSK6

born

诞 dàn birth Simplified

Original meaning: tell false words

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 延 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "tell false words". The meaning later shifted to "boast", "increase", and "give birth". Simplified form of 誕.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

Change in meaning
讠 hints at the original meaning of 诞, "tell false words", which is no longer the most common meaning of 诞 in modern Mandarin.
延
延 Sound component
yán delay

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
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)

誕 dàn birth Traditional

Original meaning: tell false words

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 延 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "tell false words". The meaning later shifted to "boast", "increase", and "give birth".

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
Change in meaning
言 hints at the original meaning of 誕, "tell false words", which is no longer the most common meaning of 誕 in modern Mandarin.
延
延 Sound component
yán delay

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangl'aːnʔ
Unicodedhɑ̌n

說文解字

《說文》：“誕，詞誕也。从言，延聲。，籀文省。”

Sources

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