quán​héng

evaluate and select

quán weigh Simplified

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sound component
quán entire

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

héng measure

Depicts a person () with a horn () on their head, indicating an unbalanced single horn as opposed to a balanced pair of horns. represents the sound. The meaning later shifted to "to weigh" and "measure".

Components

Sound component
xíng, háng walk
Iconic component
jiǎo, jué horn
Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthaeng[g]ˤraŋ beam of a steelyard

說文解字

《說文》:“衡,牛觸,橫大木其角。从角,从大,行聲。《詩》曰:‘設其楅衡。’,古文衡如此。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.366漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

weigh Traditional

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sound component
quán entire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰlon
Unicodetsiuɛn

說文解字

衡也。从金全聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica