验孕
yàn​yùn

pregnancy testing

验 yàn test Simplified

Original meaning: type of horse

Phonosemantic compound. 马 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of horse". The current meaning is a phonetic loan. Simplified form of 驗.

Components

马
马 Meaning component
mǎ horse
Change in meaning
马 hints at the original meaning of 验, "type of horse", which is no longer the most common meaning of 验 in modern Mandarin.
佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together

Sources

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

孕 yùn be pregnant

Pictograph of a pregnant woman (身) with a child (子) inside of her body.

Components

身
身 Iconic component
shēn body

Depicts a woman with her uterus emphasized. Modern form looks like unrelated 乃.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyingHl[i]ŋ-s pregnant

說文解字

《說文》：“孕，褢子也。从子，从几。”

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)

驗 yàn test Traditional

Original meaning: type of horse

Phonosemantic compound. 馬 represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of horse". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

馬
馬 Meaning component
mǎ horse
Change in meaning
馬 hints at the original meaning of 驗, "type of horse", which is no longer the most common meaning of 驗 in modern Mandarin.
僉
僉 Sound component
together

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 ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjemHm-qʰr[a]m-s verify

說文解字

《說文》：“驗，馬名。从馬，僉聲。”

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)