Simplified
Original meaning: bear
Pictograph of a bear. Based on the original meaning "bear". The meaning of this character has shifted over time to mean "strong" and "ability, power". Original form of 熊.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | noj | nˤə | a kind of bear |
| nong | nˤə(ŋ) | a kind of bear | |
| nong | nˤə(ʔ) (~ *nˤəŋ) | able; ability |
說文解字
《說文》：“能，熊屬，足似鹿。从肉，聲。能獸堅中，故稱賢能，而彊壯稱能傑也。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.752
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Traditional
Originally written the same as 鳳 (phoenix) because the two characters sounded the same. Later the bottom part of the character was abbreviated to distinguish the two characters.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | pjuwng | prəm | wind (n.) |
| pjuwngH | prəm-s | blow; criticize |
說文解字
《說文》：“風，八風也。東方曰明庶風；東南曰清明風；南方曰景風；西南曰涼風；西方曰閶闔風；西北曰不周風；北方曰廣莫風；東北曰融風。風動蟲生，故蟲八日而化。从虫，凡聲。凬，古文風。”
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)