贫僧
pín​sēng

humble monk

贫 pín poor Simplified

Money 贝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation

Components

分
分 SoundMeaning component
fēn, fèn, fen divide
贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

僧 sēng, céng Buddhist priest

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 曾 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

曾
曾 Sound component
céng already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsɯːŋ
Unicodesəng
səng

說文解字

浮屠道人也。从人曾聲。

Sources

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

貧 pín poor Traditional

Money 貝 that must be split 分; 分 also provides the pronunciation

Components

分
分 SoundMeaning component
fēn, fèn, fen divide
貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbin[b]rə[n]poor
Zhengzhangbrɯn
Unicodebhyin

說文解字

財分少也。从貝从分，分亦聲。

Sources

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