tān​dé​wú​yàn

insatiable

tān greedy Simplified

Depicts a mouth () facing a shell (). In ancient China, shells were used as currency. also represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Iconic component
bèi sea shell
SoundIconic component
jīn now

Sources

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

de, dé, děi obtain

Depicts a hand () grabbing a shell (), used as currency in ancient China, to convey the meaning "get". Originally written as . The (movement) component was added later.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

Iconic component
bèi sea shell
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttoktˤək obtain

說文解字

《說文》:“得,行有所得也。从彳,聲。,古文省彳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

negative Simplified

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character .

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjuma not have

說文解字

《說文》:“,亡也,从亡無聲;无,奇字无,通於元者,王育說:‘天屈西北為无。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yàn dislike Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

The outer walls of buildings in premodern China were filled with earth that was packed down (). This is one of the cases where the forms of 广 (building) and (cliff) were used interchangeably to mean the same thing.

Simplified component
quǎn dog

Shorthand for the sound component in the traditional character .

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

Simplified (1)

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.832
Readings & variants
Unicode

tān greedy Traditional

Depicts a mouth () facing a shell (). In ancient China, shells were used as currency. also represents the sound.

Components

Iconic component
bèi sea shell
SoundIconic component
jīn now

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthomr̥ˤ[ə]m to covet

說文解字

《說文》:“貪,欲物也。从貝,今聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

negative Traditional

Original meaning: dance

Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of (dance). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

Iconic (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjuma not have
mjuma volitional prefix
mjumo don’t

說文解字

《說文》:“,豐也。从林、。或說規模字。从大;,數之積也;林者,木之多也。與庶同意。《商書》曰:`庶草繁無’。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.495
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yàn dislike Traditional

Original meaning: to push down on

Original form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

The outer walls of buildings in premodern China were filled with earth that was packed down (). This is one of the cases where the forms of 广 (building) and (cliff) were used interchangeably to mean the same thing.

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "to push down on", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
yàn satiate, eat one's fill

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jiepʔep press (v.)
'jiemʔem contented (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》:“厭,笮也。从厂,猒聲。一曰:合也。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.832The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica