釆
biànbiǎn

distinguish

Depicts a hand (又) feeling for something in the sand (少).

Components

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.
少
少 Iconic component
shǎo, shao, shào few

Used here to depict grains of sand.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

释悉釉釋審

Sound (2)

番𢍏

Iconic (1)

番

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbeanH[b]ˤre[n]-s discriminate

說文解字

《說文》：“釆，辨別也。象獸指爪分別也。讀若辨。，古文釆。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.88-89黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2801
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)