guǐ​liǎn

grimace

guǐ ghost

Pictograph of a person () with the head of a ghost/demon (). was later added as a decorative mark.

Components

Iconic component
human's head

Used here to depict the head of a ghost/demon.

Iconic component
rén, ren person
sī, mǒu private, selfish

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 9 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjw+jXk-ʔujʔ ghost

說文解字

《說文》:“鬼,人所歸為鬼。从人,象鬼頭。鬼陰氣賊害,从厶。,古文从示。”

Sources

Character origin
林志強《《文源》評注》p.4漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

liǎn face Simplified

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

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Sound component
qiān together

Sources

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

liǎn face Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Sound component
together

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·reːmʔ
skʰlam
kramʔ
Unicodelæ̌m

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang