面包虫
miàn​bāo​chóng

mealworm

面 miàn, mian face Simplified

Depicts the outline of a face, with an eye (目) in the middle. In simplified Chinese 面 is also used to mean "noodles", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 麵.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts the outline of a face.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 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 (1 of 5 verified)

缅腼湎麵緬

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

湎靥靦

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

圙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjienHC.me[n]-s face

說文解字

《說文》：“面，顏前也。从，象人面形。”

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)

包 bāo wrap

Original meaning: to embrace

Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as 抱. The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".

Components

勹
勹 SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person hugging. 勹 also represents the sound.

子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child. Modern form looks like 巳.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 24 verified)

跑炮抱胞饱泡鲍袍咆刨苞雹疱庖孢龅匏狍飑飽砲皰鮑齙

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

袍苞飑

Iconic (1)

抱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaewpˤ<r>u wrap, bundle

說文解字

《說文》：“包，象人褢妊，巳在中，象子未成形也。”

Sources

Character origin
谢明文《释甲骨文中的“抱”——兼论“包”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

虫 chóng bug, insect Simplified

Original meaning: viper

Pictograph of a snake.

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (10 of 196 verified)

虽蛋蛇蜂蜜蛮虹蝶螺蚁蜡蚀蛛蝇蚕虾蚂蛙蚊蝴浊蜘蝉蟹蝗闽蝠蛾萤蛟蠕螂茧蜕蜒蜷蟒蜗螅蛤蟋蟀蝙蟆蜿蜈蝎蟾螃蚌蛹蛀虱蛔蚪蜻蚤蜓蚓蚣蝌蚯蛐蛰蠡蛆蛭螳蟑蟠蟮蜃蜥蛳蚱蚜蝮蛎蚩蛉虻蜴蠹蜚螨蜇蠼蜊蝈蚝蟪蚨蚴蛴蛞蛩蠖螫蛄虼蚧蠓螟蚋蟛蜍蜢蠊蛱螈蟊蛘螭蝼虺虿蛑蜮螯蚬蛏蠛蜣蜉蚶螬蝽雖蝣虮蚰螽蛲蚍蟥蝾蚵螓蝻螋蚺蝓蝰蜱蛸蝥蜾蜩蝦螵蠃蜞蝤螗蟬蝟蟭蟻蟓螞蠻蠔虰蛻蚖蜎蝕蟯蠣蛜蟜蠅蝸螢蠍蠟蟢螻螉蟈螾蟏蟄蛺蠨蟣蠑蠵蟟螮閩蟎螄蠮蛵繭

Iconic (4)

蜀蛊蟲䖵

Simplified (2)

独触

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

融烛

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanghŋlulʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“虫，一名蝮，博三寸，首大如擘指。象其卧形。物之微細，或行，或毛，或蠃，或介，或鱗，以虫為象。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

麵 flour, noodle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 麥 represents the meaning and 面 represents the sound.

Components

麥
麥 Meaning component
mài wheat
面
面 Sound component
miàn, mian face

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmeːns

Sources

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

蟲 insects Traditional

Triple of 虫.

Components

虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect
虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect
虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (1)

蠱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjuwngC.lruŋ insect

說文解字

《說文》：“蟲，有足謂之蟲，無足謂之豸。从三虫。”

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)