Hán Hán

Han Han

hán Korea Simplified

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fence surrounding a well". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
Meaning component
wéi, huí tanned leather

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

井垣也。从韋,取其帀也。幹聲。又國名。

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

hán cold

Depicts a person () under a roof () surrounding himself with grass bedding () to try to stay warm in the cold weather. The (ice) component was added later.

Components

Iconic component
mián roof
Iconic component
mǎng, mǔ vegetation, overgrown weeds

Depicts grass bedding.

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

Depicts a person trying to stay warm.

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

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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Remnant (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthanCə.[g]ˤa[n] cold

說文解字

《說文》:“寒,凍也。从人在宀下,以茻薦覆之,下有仌。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

Korea Traditional

Original meaning: fence surrounding a well

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "fence surrounding a well". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundRemnant component
gàn sunrise
Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "fence surrounding a well", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthan[g]ˤar (state in the Korean peninsula; Three Kingdoms period)

說文解字

《說文》:“,井垣也。从韋,取其帀也,倝聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica