软甲纲
ruǎn​jiǎ​gāng

malacostraca

软 ruǎn flexible, soft, weak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 耎 represents the sound. Simplified form of 軟.

Components

车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
欠
欠 Simplified component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

欠 is shorthand for the phonetic 耎 component in the variant character 輭.

Sources

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

甲 jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts cracks on a shell or tree bark.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 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 (3 of 14 verified)

押鸭匣闸奄钾呷岬胛狎柙鉀鴨閘

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

厣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaep[k]ˤr[a]p 1st heavenly stem; fingernail

說文解字

《說文》：“甲，東方之孟，陽气萌動。从木戴孚甲之象。一曰人頭宜為甲，甲象人頭。，古文甲，始於十，見於千，成於木之象。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.957-958李学勤《字源》p.1270-1271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)

纲 gāng heavy rope Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 冈 represents the sound. Simplified form of 綱.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

冈
冈 Sound component
gāng ridge or crest of hill

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

軟 ruǎn flexible, soft, weak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 耎 represents the sound.

Components

車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
耎
耎 Simplified component
ruǎn, nuò flexible, soft, weak

欠 is shorthand for the phonetic 耎 component in the variant character 輭.

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangnjonʔ
Unicodenjiuɛ̌n

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

綱 gāng heavy rope Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 岡 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

岡
岡 Sound component
gāng ridge or crest of hill

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkangkˤaŋguiding rope of net
Zhengzhangklaːŋ
Unicodegɑng

說文解字

維紘繩也。从糸岡聲。

Sources

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