软硬兼施
ruǎn​yìng​jiān​shī

carrot and stick

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

硬 yìng hard

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 更 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
更
更 Sound component
gèng, gēng more

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋɡraːŋs
ŋɡraːŋs
Unicodengɛ̀ng

Sources

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

兼 jiān double

Depicts a hand (又) holding two stalks of grain (禾).

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.
禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 13 verified)

廉嫌歉赚谦慊缣鹣蒹搛賺謙鶼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

搛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkem[k]ˤem combine; at the same time

說文解字

《說文》：“兼，并也。从又持秝。兼，持二禾。秉，持一禾。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫裘錫圭 "Chinese Writing" p.188
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

施 shī grant, bestow

Phonosemantic compound. 㫃 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Components

㫃
㫃 Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
也
也 Sound component
yě also
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

暆

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyel̥aj give, bestow

說文解字

《說文》：“施，旗皃。从，也聲。亝欒施字子旗，知施者旗也。”

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)

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