鸦片战争
Yā​piàn Zhàn​zhēng

Opium Wars

鸦 yā crow Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 牙 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鴉.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
牙
牙 Sound component
yá tooth

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

片 piàn, piān slice

Pictograph of a slice of a tree, taken from the right half of 木 (tree).

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

版牌牒牍牘

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

牖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartphenHpʰˤe[n]-s half; partial

說文解字

《說文》：“片，判木也。从半木。”

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)

战 zhàn war Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 占 represents the sound. Simplified form of 戰.

Components

占
占 Sound component
zhàn divine
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

争 zhēng strife, quarrel Simplified

Simplified form of 爭. Depicts two hands (爫 又) grabbing the same plow.

Components

爫
爫 IconicSimplified component
zhǎo hand, claw
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爫 than it was in ancient scripts.
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a plow.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 10 verified)

静净挣睁铮筝狰诤峥錚

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

挣诤

Sources

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

鴉 yā crow Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 牙 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
牙
牙 Sound component
yá tooth

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartʔæqˤraraven, crow
Zhengzhangqraː
Unicodeqa

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

戰 zhàn war Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 單 represents the sound.

Components

單
單 Sound component
dān single
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyenHtar-s to fear
tsyenHtar-s battle

說文解字

《說文》：“戰，鬭也。从戈，單聲。”

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)

爭 zhēng strife, quarrel Traditional

Depicts two hands (爫 又) grabbing the same plow.

Components

爫
爫 Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪.

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

Depicts a plow.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

靜箏崢掙凈淨睜猙

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

掙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsreang[ts]ˤreŋ
(~ *m-tsˤreŋ or *mə-tsˤreŋ)		strife, quarrel

說文解字

《說文》：“爭，引也。从、厂。”

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)