piāo​líng

drifting

piāo whirlwind Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
fēng wind
Sound component
piào slip of paper or bamboo

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

líng zero

Original meaning: to fall (rain/snow)

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "to fall (of rain/snow)". The meaning later shifted to "scattered", "fraction", and "zero".

Components

Meaning component
rain
Sound component
lìng command

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartleng[r]ˤiŋ fall (v., of rain)

說文解字

《說文》:“零,餘雨也。从雨,令聲。”

Sources

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

piāo whirlwind Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
fēng wind
Sound component
piào slip of paper or bamboo

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰew
bew
Unicodepiɛu

說文解字

回風也。从風㶾聲。

Sources

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