香港交易所
Xiāng​gǎng Jiāo​yì​suǒ

HK stock exchange

香 xiāng fragrant

Represents the sweet (甘) smell of fresh grain (禾).

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
甘
甘 Meaning component
gān sweetness

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

馨馥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjangqʰaŋ fragrance

說文解字

《說文》：“香，芳也。从黍，从甘。《春秋傳》曰：‘黍稷馨香。’”

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)

港 gǎng port, harbor

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 巷 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

巷
巷 Sound component
xiàng alley

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkroːŋʔ
ɡloːŋs

說文解字

《說文》：“，水派也，从水聲。”

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)

交 jiāo to cross, to mix

Pictograph of a person standing with crossed legs, conveying the meaning "to cross".

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (8 of 24 verified)

较效校咬胶郊狡绞蛟饺跤佼皎铰姣較鲛茭筊餃絞洨鉸鮫

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

胶铰筊鉸

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

駮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaew[k]ˤraw cross (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“交，交脛也。从大，象交形。”

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)

易 yì easy

Original meaning: to bestow, give

Upside-down version of 益, depicting food or drink being poured from a container (皿). Based on the original meaning "to bestow, give", now written as 賜. The meaning later shifted to "exchange", "change", and "easy".

Components

皿
皿 Iconic component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Depicts a vessel for holding food or drink.

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

Depicts food or drink being poured from a container.


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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

锡赐踢惕剔蜴裼埸錫賜鬄

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

裼鬄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyeHlek-s easy
yeklek change; exchange

說文解字

《說文》：“易，蜥易，蝘蜓，守宮也。象形。《秘書》說，日月為易，象陰陽也。一曰从勿。”

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)

所 suǒ place

Origin unclear. 戶 represents the sound.

Components

戶
戶 Sound component
hù, hu door
Change in sound
斤
斤 Meaning component
jīn axe

The original purpose of this component is unclear.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsrjoXs-qʰ<r>aʔ place (n.); that which
xuXqʰaʔ 所所 = 許許 = 滸滸 sound of hewing wood

說文解字

《說文》：“所，伐木聲也。从斤，戶聲。”

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)