钟鼎文 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

Chinese Character Wiki Wiki

zhōngdǐngwén

bronze inscriptions

zhōng cup Simplified

Simplified form of 鐘 and 鍾. Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 中 represents the sound.

Components

钅 Meaning component

jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

中 Sound component

zhōng, zhòng central

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Pictograph of an ancient cooking pot with two handles and three or four legs.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 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 Warring States 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Iconic (4)

Remnant (4)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tengX	tˤeŋʔ	cauldron

說文解字

《說文》：“鼎，三足兩耳，和五味之寶器也。昔禹收九牧之金，鑄鼎荊山之下。入山林川澤，螭魅蝄蜽，莫能逢之，以協承天休。《易》卦，巽木於（火）下者為鼎，象析木以炊也。籀文以鼎為貞字。”

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)

wén writing

Pictograph of a man with writing (possibly a tattoo) on his chest. In later scripts the writing was abbreviated to a dot or omitted altogether.

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 Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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

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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

这纹玫坟蚊雯紊汶玟紋閔忞炆

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

斑斌彦斐闵斓彥斕

Simplified (2)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjun	mə[n]	ornate

說文解字

《說文》：“文，錯畫也。象交文。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.706
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

zhōng clock Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 童 represents the sound.

Components

釒 Meaning component

jīn metal

童 Sound component

tóng child

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 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 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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Qin 221-206 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyowng	toŋ	bell

說文解字

《說文》：“鐘，樂鐘也。秋分之音，物穜成。从金，童聲。古者垂作鐘。銿，鐘或从甬。”

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)