Original meaning: long river
Same origin as 永. Pictograph of a long river with a tributary. The meaning later shifted to "overflow" and "spill over".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Sound (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | yenX | N-q(r)anʔ | overflow |
說文解字
《說文》：“衍，水朝宗于海也。从水，从行。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.796裘錫圭《裘錫圭學術文集》Vol 1, p.382
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | phju | pʰ(r)a | spread out |
| phu | pʰˤa | spread out | |
| Zhengzhang | pʰaː | ||
| pʰaːs | |||
| pʰa | |||
| Unicode | po |
說文解字
箸門鋪首也。从金甫聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)