毋

Characters in the same phonetic series (母) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
In the oracle bone script, 母 (“mother”) was borrowed to represent this character. It was later specialized to distinguish it from “mother”, replacing the two dots with one stroke.
Cognate with 無 (OC *ma, “to not have”). Already in Zhou time, phonetically confused with and read like 無 (OC *ma).
Cognate with 唔 in Cantonese, Teochew and Hakka.


渠

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡa): semantic 水 (“water”) + abbreviated phonetic 榘 (OC *kʷaʔ).
; “ditch; canal; drain”


狄

狄仁傑

狄仁杰


犴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːn, *ŋaːns): semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 干 (OC *kaːn).


毛

→ Arabic: مَاو (māw)

→ English: Mao

→ French: Mao

→ German: Mao

→ Italian: Mao

→ Persian: مائو (mâ'u)

→ Russian: Ма́о (Máo)

→ Turkish: Mao

→ Uyghur: ماۋ (maw)

Characters in the same phonetic series (毛) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – feather or hair.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/r-m(u/i/ja)l (“hair; fur; feather”); related to 眉 (OC *mril, “eyebrow”) and cognate with Manipuri ꯃꯨꯅ (mun, “pubic hair”), Garo খিমিল (khimil, “hair; fur”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔ-məw¹ (“body hair”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007).
(Cantonese) (mold): folk etymology suggests from English mold.

cog

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), founder of the People's Republic of China

毛澤東

毛泽东


牌

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (牌):
* → Japanese: 牌(はい) (hai)
* → Korean: 패(牌) (pae)
* → Vietnamese: bài (牌)

desc

→ Burmese: ဖဲ (hpai:, “playing cards; game of cards”)

→ Khmer: បៀ (biə, “playing cards”)

→ Lao: ໄພ້ (phai, “playing cards”)

→ Lü: ᦘᦻᧉ (phaay², “playing cards”)

→ Shan: ၽၢႆႉ (phâ̰ai, “domino, playing cards”)

→ Thai: ไพ่ (pâi, “playing cards”)

→ White Hmong: phaib (“playing cards”)

→ Zhuang: bej (“playing cards”)

/pʰaːi̯²¹⁻³⁵/

/pʰaːi̯²¹⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *breː, *breː): semantic 片 + phonetic 卑 (OC *pe).


牽

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰiːn, *kʰiːns): phonetic 玄 (OC *ɡʷeːn) + semantic 牛 (“cow, ox”) — leading an ox by hand.

細漢偷挽匏，大漢偷牽牛／细汉偷挽匏，大汉偷牵牛

sè-hàn thau bán pû, tōa-hàn thau khan gû


牟

Ideogram (指事): An ox (牛) with a symbol (now 厶) to represent its lowing.
; “moo”
; “to seek; to obtain”
; “to love”
; “look; appearance”
; “spear”


子

Characters in the same phonetic series (子) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. The legs are wrapped in a blanket. Compare with 了, where the arms are wrapped, and 㜽, in which a lock of hair is visible on top. Compare also 棄 and 毓, in which the image of the baby is reversed upside-down.
The big seal script form is much more elaborate, showing a baby with hair on a head (囟) and arms on the two sides of the body, sitting on a stool (几).
See also the right component of 保.
;child
:From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (“child, offspring, relatives; to come forth (as child at birth); to love; loving”).
:Cognate with 字 (OC *zlɯs, “character; letter”), 慈 (OC *zɯ, “loving; kind”), 滋 (OC *ʔsɯ, “to grow, to breed, to propagate, to bring about, to increase”), 孳 (OC *ʔsɯ, *zɯs, “to breed, to propagate”).
;first earthly branch
:In oracle bone and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, 子 was the sixth earthly branch; the first earthly branch was denoted differently. One of the forms survived in Shuo Wen (𢀇) (Matsumaru, 2015).
:Smith (2011) proposed this character is 甾. Observing that 甾 is closely linked with 緇 "dark, stained", 淄 "murky (water)", 菑 "field cleared by burning" (all pronounced *tsrə), Smith (2011) proposes that initially the first earthly branch 甾 (OC *ts[r]əʔ) denoted the new moon phase and meant "darkened, voided, the darkened stage". Additionally, Smith (2011) proposes that 子 (OC tsəʔ), which originated from a Sino-Tibetan root meaning "to come forth", denoted the moon's "coming forth" stage (i.e. early waning-gibbous phase).
:Sometime in Warring States period, a change occured that 子 became the first earthly branch and 巳 (OC *s-ləʔ) filled the void of the sixth earthly branch (Matsumaru, 2015), "due to phonological closeness (combined with the semantic opacity of the Branch terms at later eras)" (Smith, 2011).
:Association with the rat was possibly arbitrary, analogous to how 辰, the fifth earthly branch, was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (Ferlus, 2013).

och-l

㜽
𡿹
𡐫
𣕓
𰱤
𢀇
𢀈
𠙭
𢀉


玆

Duplication of 玄 (“deep; profound”). Its variation 𢆶 derives from the duplication of the Kangxi radical 幺 yāo.


滿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *moːnʔ): semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 㒼 ().
; “Manchu”
; “Classifier for occurrences of events”


珞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·raːɡ): semantic 王 (“jade”) + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ).


星

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (星):
* → Japanese: 星(せい) (sei)
* → Korean: 성(星) (seong)
* → Vietnamese: tinh (星)

Simplified from 曐 (晶 → 日), which is a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sleːŋ): semantic 晶 (“twinkling stars”) + phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs).
Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstructs the Old Chinese as *s-tsʰˤeŋ, which can be analysed as a verbal root *tsʰˤeŋ (“bright”) with a prefix *s-. This reconstruction accounts for the Min initial *tsh- and the use of the character to write the word 晴 (OC *N-tsʰeŋ).
Possibly related to 清 (OC *sʰleŋ, “clear”) (Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014), in turn from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(t)s(j)aŋ (“clear; pure; clean”).
Proto-Kiranti *saŋ (“star”) either develops from a parallel Sino-Tibetan root (Schuessler, 2007) or derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-kar (“star”) (STEDT).

inh

曐
𠻖
𤯢
皨
𤾪
𤽛
𰣀
𭥕
〇


牧

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 牛 (“cow”) + 攴 (“a whip”) – to herd.
Cognate with Tibetan འབྲོག་པ། ('brog pa, “herdsman; nomad; shepherd”) (Schuessler, 2007).


焦

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡si̯ɒu̯³³/

/t͡ɕi̯ɒu̯³³/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡si̯ɒu̯³³/

/t͡ɕi̯ɒu̯³³/

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 隹 (“bird”) + 火 (“fire”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsjow (“to boil; to burn; to cook; to bake”). Cognate with Tibetan འཚོད ('tshod, “to cook”), Burmese ဆူ (hcu, “to boil”). Compare also the following Sinitic words (STEDT):
* 燋 (OC *ʔsew, *ʔsewɢ, “to roast, burn, scorch; torch”)
* 樵 (OC *zew, “to gather firewood; firewood; burn fuel”)
* 爝 (OC *ʔsewɢs, *ʔsewɢ, *zewɢ, “torch”)
* 竈 (OC *ʔsluːɡs, “stove, kitchen”)


湯

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰaːŋ, *l̥ʰaːŋs, *hljaŋ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 昜 (OC *laŋ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-la(w)ŋ (“steam; hot (liquid)”); compare Tibetan རླངས (rlangs, “steam, vapour; steamy”) (Bodman, 1980; STEDT).
Related to 盪 (OC *l̥ʰaːŋ, *l̥ʰaːŋs, *l'aːŋʔ, “basin for holding hot water for washing; wash basin”), 煬 (OC *laŋ, *laŋs, “to heat; to roast”) (Wang, 1982; Schuessler, 2007).

och-l

Tang Xianzu (playwright of the Ming dynasty)

湯顯祖

汤显祖


波

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *paːl): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 皮 (OC *bral).
; “wave; undulation”
: STEDT and Starostin derive it from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r/m-ba (“wave; ripple”). Cognate with Tibetan རྦ (rba), དབའ (dba', “wave”).
: Schuessler (2007) notes a mismatch of the vowels in the above comparanda, and instead posits a root *paj (“slanted; not level”), also subsuming 陂 (OC *pral, “slope; slanting”).
: Wang (1982) relates it to 播 (OC *paːls, “to winnow”), 簸 (OC *paːlʔ, *paːls, “to winnow”).


琅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *raːŋ): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 良 (OC *raŋ)


琚

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ka): semantic 𤣩 (“jade”) + phonetic 居 (OC *kɯ, *kas).


珪

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (珪):
* → Japanese: 珪(けい) (kei)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷeː): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 圭 (OC *kʷeː).


璩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡa): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 豦 (OC *kas, *ɡa).


璞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰroːɡ): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 菐 (OC *boːɡ, *puɡ).


法

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (法):
* → Japanese: 法(ほう) (hō)
* → Korean: 법(法) (beop)
* → Vietnamese: pháp (法)

→ Proto-Tai

desc

Lao: ແບບ (bǣp, “form; model, standard, example; method; style, manner; brand, type”)

Thai: แบบ (bɛ̀ɛp, “kind; design, pattern; style; type; model”)

→ Khmer: បែប (baep, “kind, sort, model, type; style, form, shape; aspect; method, way, situation, condition”)

→ Vietnamese: phép (“rule, custom, usage, method; permission, authorisation; magical power”)

→ Manchu: ᡶᠠᡶᡠᠨ (fafun, “law; rule; punishment”)

Simplified from earlier 灋, which was originally used to represent 廢 (OC *pads, “to cast aside; to abrogate”).
Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Tibetan བབས (babs, “shape, form, appearance”), དབྱིབས (dbyibs, “shape, form, figure”), Burmese ပုံ (pum, “shape, form”). Possibly cognate with 凡 (OC *bom, “all, general, every; pattern, general rule”); see there for more.


獻

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (獻):
* → Vietnamese: hiến (獻)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sŋaːl, *hŋans, *ŋrad): phonetic 鬳 (OC *ŋans) + semantic 犬 (“dog”).
Same word as 憲 (OC *hŋans) (Schuessler, 2007), its basic meaning being seemingly "elevate > to be elavated".
Inside the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, it's related to 甗 (OC *ŋan, *ŋranʔ, *ŋrans, “a cooking vessel consisting of a steamer 'elevated' on a three-legged boiler”). Furthermore, it's possibly cognate to Tibetan སྔར་མ (sngar ma, “sharp-witted, quick-witted, intelligent”) (ibid., Gong, 2000).


木

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (木):
* → Japanese: 木(もく) (moku); 木(ぼく) (boku)
* → Korean: 목(木) (mok)
* → Vietnamese: mộc (木)

→ Lü: ᦙᦴᧉ (muu²)

Characters in the same phonetic series (木) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a tree: branches on top, roots on the bottom (more visible in earlier forms). See also 本, 未, 末 and the top component of both 尞 and 夌 in their original version.
Unrelated to 耒, in which it represents a bifurcated plow, and 茶, in which it represents the door of a hut. Unrelated to 米 since it is the pictogram of six rice kernels. Also unrelated to 保, in which it represents the body of a newborn baby.
No known cognate exists. It can perhaps be compared with Proto-Karen *məŋᴮ (“trunk (of a tree); firewood”) (Starostin) or Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔmuk (“stump (of a tree)”) (Schuessler, 2007).
The common Sino-Tibetan root for “tree; wood” is *siŋ ~ sik, represented by 薪 (OC *siŋ, “firewood”).


瑞

Characters in the same phonetic series (耑) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djols): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 耑 (OC *toːn).


甯

For pronunciation and definitions of 甯 – see 寧 (“peaceful; tranquil; serene; at peace; to stabilise; to pacify; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 寧).


牢

→ Manchu: ᠯᠣᠣ (loo)

→ Solon: lō

→ Zhuang: lauz

→ Vietnamese: rào

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 宀 (“pen; animal yard”) + 牛 (“cow”)


犢

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'oːɡ): semantic 牛 (“ox”) + phonetic 𧶠 (OC *luɡ).
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *luk (“sheep”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Cognate with 羭 (OC *lo, “sheep”), Tibetan ལུག (lug, “sheep”).
Other etymologies have been proposed:
* Boodberg (1937) relates it to Tibetan ཕྲུག (phrug, “calf”), which Schuessler (2007) deems unlikely.
* Norman (1988) suggests that it may be a loan from Mongolic or Tungusic; compare Mongolian ᠲᠤᠭᠤᠯ (tuɣul, “calf”), Manchu ᡨᡠᡴᡧᠠᠨ (tukšan, “calf”). This is an unlikely etymology due to recent developments in the reconstruction of Old Chinese, where *l- (rather than older reconstructions with *d-) would be a poor match for Mongolic/Tungusic t-, as well as new archaeological evidence suggesting that the word is likely older than previously assumed (Miyake, 2017; Cao, 2021).
* It could also be related to 畜 (OC *l̥ʰuɡs, *l̥ʰuɡ, *hluɡ, “to nourish; domestic animal”) (Schuessler, 2007).


爪

/ʈ͡ʂu̯ɑɻ²¹⁴/

/ʈ͡ʂu̯ɑɻ²¹⁴/

Pictogram (象形) – a hand grabbing from above (in earlier forms from side); compare 手, 寸, 九. Even if it can indicate a claw, actually the pictogram depicts a human hand.


猶

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klus, *lu, *lus): semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 酋 (OC *sɡlu) – a kind of monkey.

Han compound

犹
犹
夭
還
尚
野:iá
也:iá


疌

According to Shuowen, Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zeb): phonetic 屮 (OC *tʰad) + semantic 又 (“hand”) + semantic 止 (“foot”)


瑪

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mraːʔ): semantic 𤣩 (“jade”) + phonetic 馬 (OC *mraːʔ).


甪

Original version of 角 (Zihui), which represents a horn. Unrelated to the bottom part of 備, which represents a quiver.


清

Cao Wei
Chen dynasty
Eastern Han dynasty
Eastern Wei
Eastern Wu
Eastern Zhou dynasty
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Han dynasty
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Jin dynasty (265–420)
Liang dynasty
Liao dynasty
Liu Song dynasty
Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area
Ming dynasty
Northern Qi
Northern Wei
Northern Zhou
Northern and Southern dynasties
Qin dynasty
Qing dynasty
Shang dynasty
Shu Han
Song dynasty
Southern Qi
Southern and Northern dynasties
Spring and Autumn period
Sui dynasty
Tang dynasty
Three Kingdoms
Warring States period
Western Han dynasty
Western Liao
Western Wei
Western Xia
Western Zhou dynasty
Xia dynasty
Xin dynasty
Yuan dynasty
Zhou dynasty

→ English: Ching, Cing, Qing

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ²⁴/

/t͡sʰi̯aŋ²⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰleŋ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 青 (OC *sʰleːŋ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(t)s(j)aŋ (“clear; pure; clean”); cognate with Tibetan གཙང (gtsang, “clean; pure”), Mizo thiang (“to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”), Southern Qiang ɕó, Drung cangma (“clean”), Burmese စင် (cang, “clean, pure”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).
Within Chinese, cognate with 淨 (OC *zeŋs, “clean”), 醒 (OC *seːŋ, *seːŋʔ, *seːŋs, “to wake up; to become sober”), and allofamic with 星 (OC *sleːŋ, “star”), 晴 (OC *zleŋ, “(of weather) clear; fine”); possibly also related to 靜 (OC *zleŋʔ, “quiet”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Perhaps an areal word; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *caŋ (“to glitter”) (Schuessler, 2007).


畢

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 田 (“field”) + 𠦒 (“net”) – a net used for hunting in the field. Compare with 單

Han compound

Bi Sheng (inventor of movable-type printing)

畢昇

毕升


痣

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjɯs): semantic 疒 + phonetic 志 (OC *tjɯs).


猛

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (猛):
* → Japanese: 猛(もう) (mō)

→ Vietnamese: mạnh (猛, “powerful”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mraːŋʔ): semantic 犬 + phonetic 孟 (OC *mraːŋs).


疆

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaŋ): semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 彊 (OC *kaŋs, *ɡaŋ, *ɡaŋʔ).
Variant or allofam of 境 (OC *kraŋʔ, “boundary”) (Schuessler, 2007). Compare also Burmese ကင်း (kang:, “to be free from, keep away from”).


甄

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ken, *kin): phonetic 垔 (OC *qin) + semantic 瓦.

Han compound

甄子丹


甌

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qoː) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 區 (OC *qoː, *kʰo, “vessel”) + semantic 瓦 (“pottery”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔəw-ŋ (“pot; vat; jar”) (reconstructed provisionally). Related to 椀 (OC *qoːnʔ), 碗 (OC *qoːnʔ, “bowl”), and possibly 甕 (OC *qoːŋs, “urn”). Compare Burmese အိုး (ui:, “pot”) (Schuessler, 2007).


皞

皡
暤
暭
皥
曍
*睪
睾


皋

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 白 (“white, bright”) + 夲 (“to advance”), although the connection to the modern meaning is unclear.


疊

畾 + 宜 – a pile.
Originally as 曡, with 晶 (jīng) on top. Shuowen commented that the shape change was promoted by emperor of the short-lived Xin Dynasty, who deemed the use of three "suns" (日) in this character too empowering - compared to three "fields" (田).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/l-t(y)ap (“fold, layer, pile up, repeat”). Cognate with 摺 (OC *ruːb, *ʔljob, “to fold”), 褶 (OC *ʔljob, *l'ɯːb, *ljub, *ɦljub, “lined dress”), Tibetan ལྟབ (ltab, “to fold, gather up, to lay or put together”), ལྡེབ (ldeb, “to bend round or back, to turn round, to double down”), ལྡབ (ldab, “to fold up, repeat, do again”), Burmese ထပ် (htap, “to stack, layer”) and Burmese လိပ် (lip, “to fold up, to roll up”) (STEDT).

cog

叠
曡
疉
畳
㬪
疂
𣆹
𤴁
迭
沓
叠


瓊

/t͡ɕʰi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷeŋ): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 夐 (OC *qʰʷeːns, *qʰʷeŋs).


海

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (海):
* → Japanese: 海(かい) (kai)
* → Korean: 해(海) (hae)
* → Vietnamese: hải (海)

→ Bouyei: haaic

→ Zhuang: haij

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hmlɯːʔ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 每 (OC *mɯːʔ).
Probably related to 晦 (OC *hmɯːs, “dark”); in numerous Zhou texts 海 is described as 晦 (Schuessler, 2007). Compare the parallelism in Chinese: 溟 (OC *meːŋ, *meːŋʔ, “ocean”) < 冥 (OC *meːŋ, “dark”).
STEDT compares 海 (OC *hmlɯːʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *muːŋ ~ r/s-muːk (“foggy; dark; sullen; menacing; thunder”).

inh

Hai Rui (Chinese scholar-official of the Ming dynasty)

海瑞

a surname. Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)


申

Characters in the same phonetic series (申) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) — a bolt of lightning. Original character of 電 (OC *l'iːns, “lightning”) and 神 (OC *hlin, “god; deity; spirit”).
; “to extend; to state; to request; to announce; again”
; 9th earthly branch
: For its association with the monkey, compare Proto-Tai *liːŋᴬ (“monkey”), Proto-Hmong *ʔlinᴬ (“monkey”), and Proto-Mien *ʔbiŋᴬ (“monkey”).
; “Shanghai”

Han etyl

𢑚
𦥔
伸
𤰶
𠭙
𦦀
𠭜


甕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qoːŋs): phonetic 雍 (OC *qoŋ, *qoŋs) + semantic 瓦 (“earthenware”).
Probably Sino-Tibetan (Unger, 1999; Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). STEDT reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔəw-ŋ (“pot; vat; jar”) provisionally.
Within Chinese, compare 甌 (OC *qoː, “small bowl; small cup”), 碗 (OC *qoːnʔ, “bowl”), 罌 (OC *qreːŋ, “earthen jar”), 盎 (OC *qaːŋʔ, *qaːŋs, “earthen jar”), 癰 (OC *qoŋ, “carbuncle; ulcer”) (Wang, 1982; Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).
Also compare Tibetan གཞོང (gzhong, “basin; tub; bowl”), Lepcha ᰈᰨᰵᰕᰨ (joŋ-mo, “bucket, tub”), Proto-Loloish *ʔ-loŋ² (“pot”) (Unger, 1999).


皦

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/


疏

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sŋra, *sŋras): phonetic 疋 (OC *ŋraːʔ, *sŋra, *sŋraʔ) + semantic 㐬.


班

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (班):
* → Japanese: 班(はん) (han)
* → Korean: 반(班) (ban)
* → Vietnamese: ban (班)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 珏 (“pieces of jade”) + 刀 (“knife”) – to cut jade to pieces with knife. The pieces of jade appear as a more conservative version 玨. The knife in the middle is well visibile in the conservative variant 𤤻. Unrelated to 师.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(b/p)ral (“to leave, depart, separate”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan བྲལ་བ (bral ba, “to be separated”), འཕྲལ་བ ('phral ba, “to cause to be separated, to separate”), Miju phɑ̆l⁵³ (“to pull (weeds)”), phɹɯl⁵⁵ lɑ³⁵ (“to collapse”), Thulung phal si- (“to collapse”), Burmese ပြား (pra:, “various”), Jingpho pə³¹-ran³¹.
Karlgren (1933) grouped 班 (OC *praːn), 半 (OC *paːns), and 釆 (OC *brens) into one word family.
Schuessler (2007) also pointed to Austroasiatic comparanda semantically closer to Chinese; such as Khmer រាល (riəl, “to spread, extend, distribute”) and Khmer ព្រាល (priəl, “to spread”) with causative prefix *p-.
Possibly the same etymon as 斑 (OC *praːn, “variegated, spotted, striped”), which may be cognate to 羆 (OC *pral, “brown bear”) (Zhang, 2019).

och-l

班固


盍

Original form of 蓋. Pictogram (象形), a container and its lid.
From the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”).


盂

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷa): phonetic 于 (OC *ɢʷa) + semantic 皿 (“dish; vessel”)


烏

Pictogram (象形) – a bird. Compare 鳥 (“bird”), of similar development. See also the original version of its variant 於.
; “crow; black; dark”
: Schuessler (2007) considers it to be onomatopoeic, and compares it with Proto-Loloish *akᴸ (“crow”).
: “Black; dark” is a semantic extension of “crow” – “black as a crow”. Compare 黑 (OC *hmlɯːɡ, “black”), which is cognate with 墨 (OC *mlɯːɡ, “ink”).
; “sun”
; interrogative pronoun

† - usually describes the color of cloth or thread


畏

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意).
In oracle bone script form, this character depicts a ghost 鬼 (guǐ) standing and holding a stick. (Hsiao-ting Li)
The small seal glyph was analysed by Shuo Wen as a ghost head (甶 (fú)) with part of a tiger, including its claw. However, the version on oracle bones is different.

𠂽
𤰣
𤰰
𤰲
𤰴
𤰵
𤱖
𤱫
𪽉
𰢼


甘

Ideogram (指事) – something (perhaps sweet) in an open mouth; the original drawing is 𠁿. Original form of 含. See also 敢, 旨, 香, and 音.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-klum (“sweet”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Cognate with Mizo thlum, Lepcha [script needed] (khlyam).
Possibly related to 含 (OC *ɡɯːm, “to keep in mouth”) and 甜 (OC *l'iːm, “sweet”), 柑 (MC kam, “mandarin orange”) (Schuessler, 2007).

𠙿
𠁿
𠮚
𤮺
𠙸
𭺪
𭺫
㤌

Gan Ning (military general serving under Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han dynasty)

甘寧

甘宁


產

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (產):
* → Japanese: 産(さん) (san)
* → Korean: 산(產) (san)
* → Vietnamese: sản (產)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sŋreːnʔ): abbreviated phonetic 彥 (OC *ŋrans) + semantic 生 (“to be born”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *srjal (“to breed; to bring up”), whence Tibetan སྲེལ (srel, “to bring up; to rear”).
Schuessler (2007) notes that this word is equally likely to have been Austroasiatic in origin. Compare Khmer សំរាល (sɑmraal, “to give birth”).


癸

→ Zhuang: gveiq

Pictogram (象形) - Multiple uncertain interpretations.
Possibly, this was a pictograph of a four handled plow, meant to be operated by 4 people at a time. This character shows how essential and commonplace collective farming was roughly 3000 years ago. Otherwise, it is composed of two halberds (戣 kuí).


眷

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *krons): phonetic 龹 () + semantic 目 (“eye”).


盧

Originally a pictogram (象形) – an oven. 虍 and 皿 were added in the bronze inscriptions, and the oven pictogram came to be written 田, making the current form a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *b·raː): phonetic 虍 (OC *qʰaː) + semantic 田 (“pictogram of an oven”) + semantic 皿 (“vessel”). This sense (“oven”) is now represented by the character 爐／炉 (lú).

Han compound

盧照鄰

卢照邻


皓

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡuːʔ): semantic 白 (“white”) + phonetic 告 (OC *kuːɡs, *kuːɡ).
Compare Proto-Tai *xaːwᴬ (“white”) (whence Zhuang hau and Thai ขาว (kǎao)) and Proto-Hlai *kʰaːw (“white”) (Matisoff, 1988).


畜

Pictogram (象形): 玄 (“rope tying the bag of feed”) + 田 (“bag of feed”) – a bag of feed, hence livestock.
Alternatively, 玄 (“rope”) + 田 or 囿 (“pen; fold; enclosure”) – tying animals and raising them in the enclosure.
“To raise; to rear (an animal)” (*–k) > “domesticated animal; livestock” (*–k–s, exopassive: “what has been raised”). The various pronunciations in Old and Middle Chinese have been confused or merged in many extant dialects.
Etymology unknown. Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *hu (“to be born; birth; to rear”), and thus may be related to 好 (OC *qʰuːʔ, *qʰuːs, “good; to like”) (Matisoff). Alternatively, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kruŋ (“to live; alive; to be born; to give birth; green; sprout”), whence Tibetan འཁྲུང ('khrung, “to be born; to arise; to sprout”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Zhengzhang (2015) relates Tibetan ལུག (lug, “sheep”) to this word; this would be parallel to 羊 (OC *laŋ, “sheep”) ?~ 養 (OC *laŋʔ, *laŋs, “to rear”) (Sagart, 1999). In Sagart (1999), 畜 is related to 育 (OC *luɡ, “to nourish”) and 鞠 (OC *kuɡ, *kʰuɡ, *ɡuɡ, “to rear”).

cog

嘼
𠬀
𤛅
𤠕
𤲸
蓄
𠾧


環

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (環):
* → Japanese: 環(かん) (kan)
* → Korean: 환(環) (hwan)
* → Vietnamese: hoàn (環)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷraːn): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 睘 (OC *ɡʷeŋ).
Note similarities to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *hwaŋ (“to encircle; circular, fence”), whence Burmese ဝင်း (wang:, “enclosure, compound”).


督

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔl'uːwɢ): phonetic 叔 (OC *hljɯwɢ) + semantic 目 (“eye”) – to look over, to oversee (with eyes).


熊

According to Shuowen, phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷlɯm): semantic 能 (“bear”) + abbreviated phonetic 炎 (OC *ɦlam).
This character originally represented an onomatopoetic word (熊熊 (xióngxióng, “(of flame) raging”)). Later its semantic component 能 (OC *nɯː, *nɯːs, *nɯːŋ, *nɯːŋʔ), the character for the Old Chinese word "bear", was borrowed for another word. This character thus began to represent the word "bear" instead.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-wam. Cognate with Tibetan དོམ (dom, “bear”), Burmese ဝံ (wam) (in ဝက်ဝံ (wak-wam, “bear”)).

Han compound

Xiong Shili (20th-century Chinese philosopher)

熊十力

a surname: Xiong (mainland China); Hsiung (Taiwan); Hung (Hong Kong)


特

desc

→ Bouyei: dag (“male (of animals); classifier for male animals”)

→ Proto-Southwestern Tai: *tʰɤkᴰ (“young male animal”)

Thai: ถึก (tʉ̀k, “young ox; male water buffalo”)

Lao: ເຖິກ (thœk, “male (of animals)”)

→ Proto-Vietic: *dək (“male”)

Vietnamese: đực (“male (of animal); bull”)

→ Zhuang: daeg (“male (of animals); classifier for young males”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *dɯːɡ): semantic 牛 (“ox”) + phonetic 寺 (OC *ljɯs) – large bull.
There seem to be two main semantic fields: "bull" and "single; unique". It is unclear whether these two fields are related. Schuessler (2007) suggests a possible derivation of "bull" from "match", but "bull" seems to be the earlier sense. The "single; unique" sense could be an extension of "bull" due to its largeness (Li Xueqin, 2012).
In the "bull" sense, it is related to 犆 (OC *dɯɡ, “ox”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Wang (1982) relates the "three-year-animal" sense to 犢 (OC *l'oːɡ, “calf”); see there for more.
In the "single" sense, it is related to 直 (OC *dɯɡ, “simply; only”), 職 (OC *tjɯɡ, “simply; only”) (Schuessler, 2007). Wang (1982) relates it to 徒 (OC *l'aː) and 但 (OC *daːnʔ) in the "only" sense, as well as 獨 (OC *doːɡ, “single”) in the "single" sense, but see these entries for more.


瞀

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *moːɡs, *mroːɡ): phonetic 敄 (OC *moʔ, *mos) + semantic 目 (“eye”)


熱

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (熱):
* → Japanese: 熱(ねつ) (netsu)
* → Korean: 열(熱) (yeol)
* → Vietnamese: nhiệt (熱)

/d͡ziɛt̚¹²¹/

/d͡ziɛt̚¹²¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋjed): phonetic 埶 (OC *ŋeds) + semantic 灬 (“fire”).
Schuessler (2024) considers this a *-t derivation of Proto-Sino-Tibetan *nwe (“warm”), whence also Burmese နွေး (nwe:, “warm; lukewarm”), နွှေး (hnwe:, “to warm something; to revise”).
Often considered to be related to 爇 (OC *ŋʷjed, “to burn; to toast”) and 焫 (OC *njod, “hot”).


睹

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *taːʔ): semantic 目 + phonetic 者 (OC *tjaːʔ).
Proposed to be cognate with Tibetan ལྟ (lta, “to look at, to see”) (LaPolla, 1994), which is derived from Proto-Bodic *l-ta-s/t (“to see, to look”) (STEDT). It has also been connected with Proto-Tai *p.taːᴬ (“eye”) (Unger, 1990).


留

In bronze inscriptions, phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *m·ru, *m·rus): phonetic 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) + semantic 田 (“field”). Later in small seal script, phonetic 丣 (OC *luʔ) + semantic 田.

Han compound

畄
畱
㽞
𤰛
𤱊
𬎿
𢕍
𢔲


猴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡoː): semantic 犭 + phonetic 侯 (OC *ɡoː).
The first syllable in 母猴 (OC *mɯʔ ɡoː, “macaque”) and 沐猴 (OC *moːɡ ɡoː, “macaque”) may perhaps be an old pre-initial (Unger, 1985).
Compare Proto-Lolo-Burmese *myukᴸ (“monkey”), which derives from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m(j/r)uk (“monkey”) (Pinault et al., 1997, STEDT).


汝

Proto-Kam-Sui language
Southern Kam language
Sui language

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njaʔ): semantic 水 (“river; water”) + phonetic 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas).
Probably related to Proto-Kam-Sui *Ɂnjaᴬ (“river”), whence Southern Kam nyal (“river”), Sui qnyal (Schuessler, 2007).


燕

→ English: Yan, Yen


瞿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷas, *ɡʷa): phonetic 䀠 (, “eyes”) + semantic 隹 (“bird”).

Han compound

瞿秋白


登

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 癶 (“left and right feet”) + 豆 (“pictogrammic of raised object; stepping stone”). The two hands at the bottom disappeared, but they are retained in the conservative variant 𤼷.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“top; to rise; to raise”) (STEDT). Cf. 陟 (OC *tɯɡ) (Wang, 1923) < *l-t(j)ak (“to ascend”).


疇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *du): semantic 田 (“field”) + phonetic 壽 (OC *djuʔ, *djus).
; “who”

Han compound

畴
㿧
𣋬
𤴃
𠝽
𢏚
𤲮
𠷎
𤾦
𢑔
𢑜
𤾊
𠼡
𠾉
𰣚


矯

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *krewʔ): semantic 矢 (“arrow”) + phonetic 喬 (OC *krew, *ɡrew): to straighten; to make as straight as an arrow shaft.


瓦

→ Proto-Hmong-Mien: *ŋʷæX (“tile”)

→ Vietnamese: ngói (“tile”)

→ Zhuang: vax (“tile”)

Pictogram (象形) – fired earthenware pottery, or a tile.
Possibly derived from 化 (OC *hŋʷraːls, “to transform”) by eliminating causative devoicing and adding an endoactive rising tone (上聲), literally “that which has transformed (through fire)” (Schuessler, 2007).


母

Sino-Xenic (母):
* → Vietnamese: mẫu (母)

Differentiated form of 女 with the addition of distinguishing dots. In the early oracle bone texts both words 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas, “woman”) and 母 were written as 女 (Yao, 1989, Liu, 2011, Huang, 2014). Part of this character appears in 乳.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mow (“woman, female”).


盈

Uncertain. Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 夃 + 皿 (“vessel”). Meaning of the 夃 component is unclear.
Compare Proto-Tibeto-Burman *(p/b)liŋ (“full; fill”), whence Chepang ब्लीङ्सा (bliŋ‑, “to be full; fill”), Burmese ပြည့် (prany., “to be full”), Burmese ဖြည့် (hprany., “to add”) (Schuessler, 2007, STEDT). An allofam is perhaps 孕 (OC *lɯŋs, “pregnant”), as well as 填 (OC *diːn, *diːns, *tin, *tins, “to fill up”) (Schuessler, 2007). Despite STEDT's suggestion, 贏 (OC *leŋ, “surplus, profit; to win”) is probably not related, in light of Baxter and Sagart's later Old Chinese reconstruction.


氣

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (氣):
* → Japanese: 気(き) (ki)
* → Korean: 기(氣) (gi)
* → Vietnamese: khí (氣)

→ English: chi, qi, ki

→ Finnish: ki

/t͡ɕʰiə̯ɻ⁵¹/

/t͡ɕʰiə̯ɻ⁵¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰɯds, *qʰɯds): phonetic 气 (OC *kʰɯds) + semantic 米 (“rice”) – to give rice as a gift.
Later borrowed meanings of “air, flow” from 气 (OC *kʰɯds). The derivative 餼 (OC *qʰɯds) refers to the original word. Compare 乞 (OC *kʰɯds, *kʰɯd).

Han compound

气
气
炁
𣱛
𣱖
𤽍
𣅠
㫓
*暣
気


盛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djeŋ, *djeŋs): phonetic 成 (OC *djeŋ) + semantic 皿.
Cognate with 成 (OC *djeŋ, “to complete”), 城 (OC *djeŋ, “city wall; city”) (Schuessler, 2007). See 成 for more.
Pronunciation 2 is the exopassive of pronunciation 1, literally meaning "to be filled". (Ibid.)

Han compound

Sheng Shicai (Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944)

盛世才


砍

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰoːmʔ): semantic 石 (“rock”) + phonetic 欠 (OC *kʰoms).


礄

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑʊ̯³⁵/

Considered a 後起字／后起字 (hòuqǐzì). Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 石 (“stone”) + phonetic 喬 (qiáo).

zh-l

後起字／后起字 (hòuqǐzì)


王

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (王):
* → Japanese: 王(おう) (ō)
* → Okinawan: 王(をー) (wō)
* → Korean: 왕(王) (wang)
* → Vietnamese: vương (王)

desc

→ Classical Mongolian: ᠸᠠᠩ (wang) (via Mandarin)

Mongolian:

Mongolian script: ᠸᠠᠩ (wang)

Cyrillic script: ван (van)

→ Buryat: ван (van)

→ English: Wang (via Mandarin), Wong (via Cantonese), Ong (via Hokkien), Heng (via Teochew)

→ Iu Mien: hungh

→ Manchu: ᠸᠠᠩ (wang) (via Mandarin)

→ Middle Mongol: (via Early Mandarin)

Uigurjin script: ᠣᠩ (ʾwnk /oŋ/)

→ Old Uyghur: 𐽰𐽳𐽺𐽷 (oŋ) (via Early Mandarin), 𐽳𐽰𐽺𐽷 (wʾnk /waŋ/) (via Early Mandarin)

→ Old Uyghur: 𐽰𐽳𐽶𐽺𐽷 (öŋ)

→ Tagalog: Ong (via Hokkien), Wong (via Cantonese), Wang (via Mandarin)

→ Thai: อ๋อง (ɔ̌ng) (via Hokkien)

→ Zhuang: vuengz

Chinese bronze inscriptions
Konyak languages
Zhou dynasty

Characters in the same phonetic series (王) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) of a ritual axe made perhaps of jade, a symbols of the king's power. A ceremonial axe was kept near the throne, and was used for performing rituals in ancient China.
The traditional interpretation (most likely a folk etymology given the original appearence of the character) is that the character metaphorically indicates the king or emperor according to the ancient Chinese thought: three horizontal strokes represent Heaven, Man and Earth, and the vertical stroke is the king or emperor, the one who connects them together. However, compare 天 (tiān) (a man with a horizontal stroke above his head to indicate the sky).
Unrelated to 玉 (yù, “a string with three pieces of jade”) and 主 (“master”); partly related to 士 (a war axe and, perhaps, sometimes a variant of 王), to 戉 (an axe drawn vertically), to the inner component of 匡 (kuāng, “square‑shaped bamboo basket”), and to the right component of 往 (< 𢓸).
Uncertain. There are many proposed etymologies:
* Sagart and Baxter (2009) compare it to Tibetan གོང་མ (gong ma, “superior one”).
* Schuessler (2007) compares it to Tibetan དབང (dbang, “strength, power”) and Burmese အန် (an, “strength, power”), which derive from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-baŋ (“strength, power”). However, reconstructing the Old Chinese as *waŋ, he notes the mismatch between Old Chinese *w- vs. Tibetan *b- (unless *dw- can become db-; for possible *b- ~ * w- variation, see 花). He also compares it to Proto-Northern Naga *waŋ (“chief”).
* Schuessler (2007) alternatively proposes a connection to Old Khmer vāṅ, vaṅ (modern Khmer វាំង (veăng), “royal palace”), which he considers to be cognate with Khmer ហ្លួង (luŏng, “king”). This is perhaps supported by a bronze inscription where 王 refers to a place, not the Zhou king (Shaughnessy, 1991). The semantic shift from "palace" to "king" parallels Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣ (“pharaoh”, literally “palace”), from pr (“house”) + ꜥꜣ (“great, big”). The connection to the Old Khmer word would thus relate it to Proto-Mon-Khmer *waŋ ~ *waaŋ (“enclosure; to go round”), which is part of a larger Austroasiatic word family, including 營 (OC *ɢʷeŋ) and 環 (OC *ɡʷraːn). Bodman (1980) connects 王 with 皇 (OC *ɡʷaːŋ, “sovereign”), which Schuessler (2007) connects to this word family.
* Speculations exist about its connection to 尪 (OC *qʷaːŋ, “lame, crippled”) and 狂 (OC *ɡʷaŋ, “mad”), based on theories about the connection between ancient Chinese kingship and shamanism (Keightley, 1995).

cog

王勃

王延政


甚

Characters in the same phonetic series (甚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Shuowen: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 甘 + 匹.
STEDT considers it to be from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *l-(t/d)jam (“full; flat; straight”) and cognate with 斟 (OC *kljum, “to pour”), 淫 (OC *lɯm, “excessive”) and Tibetan གཏམས (gtams, “to fill up”).


睪

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 目 (“eye”) + 㚔. The latter component is an arrow, hence "eye" + "arrow" convey the concept of "aiming, spying".
According to folk etymology, the component at the bottom is the representation of a pair of handcuffs (which instead appears in 報 and 執).

Han compound

𠬤
𥇝
𥇡
𦎝
睾
睾
睾
𠬤
𠬤
𠬤


碩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djaɡ): phonetic 石 (OC *djaɡ) + semantic 頁.


玉

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (玉):
* → Japanese: 玉(ぎょく) (gyoku)
* → Korean: 옥(玉) (ok)
* → Vietnamese: ngọc (玉)

→ Indonesian: giok (via Min Nan)

→ Thai: หยก (yòk)

The character's shape was historically very similar to 王; a dot was introduced to differentiate the two.
Pictogram (象形): a picture of a cong (琮), a sort of ritual jade totem.
It is also interpreted as three pieces of jade strung together on a string.
STEDT compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-lu(ŋ/k) (“stone”), which is also compared to 琭 (OC *roːɡ, “a kind of precious stone”) and 碭 (OC *l'aːŋ, *l'aːŋs, “brilliant veined stone”).


正

Burmese language
Chepang language
Jingpho language
Khmer language
Mizo language
Proto-Sino-Tibetan language
Thai language
Tibetan language

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjeŋ, *tjeŋs): phonetic 丁 (OC *rteːŋ, *teːŋ) + semantic 止 (“foot”) – to go on a long journey. Original form of 征 (OC *tjeŋ, “to go on long campaign”).
Later, 丁 was simplified into a horizontal stroke, as in 旦. Folk etymologies do not recognize 丁. Graphically, the modern version of the character is the reverse of 之.
Sino-Tibetan or area word: “centre; target; first (month); straight; correct”.
Compare Mizo dîng (“to go straight or direct (as person, arrow etc.); to go straight through without breaking the journey; straight; direct”). Matisoff sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-tjak/ŋ ~ tik/ŋ (“good; very; real; straight”) for this, which includes 正, 直 (OC *dɯɡ, “straight; right”) and 實 (OC *ɦliɡ, “solid; true”).
Additionally, Matisoff has Proto-Sino-Tibetan *t(r)waŋ (“straight; straighten”), whence Chepang धेङ्सा (dʰeŋ-, “straight”), Jingpho ding (“straight”), Tibetan དྲང་པོ (drang po, “straight; correct; upright; just; fair”), Burmese တန်း (tan:, “straight; to head straight for”). Also compare Khmer ទៀង (tiĕng, “accurate; correct; exact; precise; honest”) and Thai ดิ่ง (dìng, “vertically; straight; to plummet”).
Derivatives:
* 征 (OC *tjeŋ, “to go straight > to go on a journey”)
* 政 (OC *tjeŋs, “correct; to govern; government; to determine”)
* 整 (OC *tjeŋʔ, “orderly; to arrange; to dispose”)
For etymology of pronunciation 正 (zhĕng) in the month 正月 (zhēngyuè)'s name, see there.


狐

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷaː): semantic 犭 (“dog”) + phonetic 瓜 (OC *kʷraː).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gwa (“fox”). Cognate with Tibetan ཝ (wa, “fox”).


甫

→ Bouyei: bux

desc

→ Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰuːꟲ (“person”)

Ahom: 𑜇𑜥 (phū)

Lao: ຜູ້ (phū)

Lü: ᦕᦴᧉ (ṗhuu²)

Shan: ၽူႈ (phūu)

Thai: ผู้ (pûu)

→ Zhuang: boux

In oracle bone script, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 屮 (“vegetation”) + 田 (“field”) – garden, original form of 圃.
In bronze inscriptions, the components 屮 and 田 corrupted into 父 and 用 respectively. 父 (OC *paʔ, *baʔ) became a sound component,
making the character phono-semantic (形聲／形声, OC *paʔ).
In the modern form the components have merged into a single shape.
Probably cognate with 父 (OC *paʔ, “father”) (Schuessler, 2007).


田

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (田):
* → Japanese: 田(でん) (den)
* → Korean: 전(田) (jeon)
* → Vietnamese: điền (田)

Characters in the same phonetic series (田) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – pictographic representation of a field divided into four sections. See the original version of 甫 and 里. Unrelated to 思, 黄, 果, 由, 甲, and perhaps 番.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-liŋ (“field”). Cognate with Tibetan ཞིང (zhing, “field; realm”), Jingpho maling (mă³¹ liŋ³³, “forest”). Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *ljiŋ (“field”).

Han etyl

田漢

田汉


眾

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (衆／众):
* → Japanese: 衆(しゅう) (shū)
* → Vietnamese: chúng (眾)

Pictogram (象形): a sun (日) above three humans (㐺) – people gathered or working under the sun.
The top, originally 日 (“sun”) in oracle script has been modified, in bronze script resembling instead a horizontal eye (early form of 目) – reinterpreted as “a crowd under someone’s gaze”, and now resembles 罒.
The bottom, originally three figures (人人人), uses various forms of 人 and 亻, with variation depending on font.
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-toŋ (“thousand”) (Peiros and Starostin, 1996; STEDT); if so, cognate with Tibetan སྟོང (stong, “thousand”), Burmese ထောင် (htaung, “thousand”), Drung tu (“thousand”), Nuosu ꄙ (dur, “thousand”).
Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) compares this word with Classical Tibetan [script needed] (yong, “in all, at all times, ever before”) and Tibetan ཡོངས (yongs, “all, whole”).

cog

众
衆
乑
㐺
𥅫
𠱧
𠱦
𠂝


礦

→ Bouyei: kuangq

→ Zhuang: gvangq

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷraːŋʔ): semantic 石 (“stone”) + phonetic 廣 (OC *kʷaːŋʔ).

Han compound

矿
鑛
鉱
磺
丱
卝
鋛
𥐫
𥒩
𨥑
𨥥
𨧾
𨨭


碎

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *suːds): semantic 石 (“stone”) + phonetic 卒 (OC *ʔsuːd, *sʰuːd, *ʔsud).


祕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 示 (“altar”) + phonetic 必 (OC *pliɡ) – arcane, secret rituals.


禰

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *niːlʔ): semantic 示 + phonetic 爾 (OC *njelʔ).


种

种輯／种辑 ― Chóng Jí ― Chong Ji (politician in the Han Dynasty)


禽

In oracle bone inscriptions, pictogram (象形) of a net, originally the same character as 𠦒 and 畢. In bronze inscriptions, the phonetic component 今 (OC *krɯm) was added, making the character phono-semantic (形聲／形声, OC *ɡrɯm). This form was borrowed for its modern meaning, and the original meaning of "capture" came to be represented by 擒 (OC *ɡrɯm).
In the modern form, 今 has corrupted into 人 and 𠦒 into 离. Compare with 畢.


祁

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡril, *kljilʔ): phonetic 示 (OC *ɡle, *ɢljils) + semantic 邑 (“place”).

Han compound

Chi Chia-wei (a Taiwanese gay civil rights activist)

祁家威


番

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *paːl, *paːls, *pʰaːn, *pʰan, *ban): phonetic 釆 () + semantic 田 – "animal's footprint in the field"; Xu Shen interprets both components as the pictogram of an animal footprint. Original form of 蹯 (fán).
According to Tadashi Takada (高田忠周), it's the pictogram of some seeds on the palm of an open hand, which conveys the concept of "spreading". Original form of 播.
Neither Xu Shen nor Tadashi Takada interprets the bottom component as the pictogram of a field.
; “to do in turns; turn; time”
; “anime series”


用

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (用):
* → Japanese: 用(よう) (yō)
* → Korean: 용(用) (yong)
* → Vietnamese: dụng (用)

→ Iu Mien: longc

→ Vietnamese: dùng

→ Zhuang: yungh

Pictogram (象形): a water bucket. Compare 桶. Similar but unrelated to 甬, which represents a bronze bell, and 角, which represents a horn. Unrelated to the bottom part of 備, which represents a quiver. Eventually, unrelated to 甫, in which it is the stylization of 田.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *z(j)um ~ *zuŋ, provisionally set up by STEDT. Cognates to 傭 (OC loŋ) and 庸 (OC loŋ), outside Sinitic, Southern Bai zv³¹ (“to use”) Burmese သုံး (sum:, “to use”), Ersu zi⁵⁵ (“to use”), Nuosu ꌬ (ssi, “to use”), Pa'o Karen [script needed] (sūŋ, “to use”).
Sun (1999) and Schuessler (2007) consider this word a cognate to Tibetan ལོངས (longs, “use”)


秘

In current form: Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mpriɡs): semantic 禾 + phonetic 必 (OC *pliɡ).
Variant (俗字) of 祕 via 示 → 禾, hence there is a reference to secret rituals and the concept of arcane.
Read mì instead of bì in Mandarin as a result of conflation with 密 (mì) (c.f. 秘密 (mìmì)) (Fu, 1958).


牛

Wutunhua: nek

/n̠ʲi̯əu̯¹³/

/n̠ʲi̯əu̯¹³/

Pictogram (象形) of a bull's head.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋwa.
;"awesome"

傲人

nowadays especially of breasts, body curve

牛僧孺


秧

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qaŋ, *qaŋʔ): semantic 禾 (“grain; cereal”) + phonetic 央 (OC *qaŋ).
Attested relatively late, in the Tang dynasty (Sagart (2011)).
Haudricourt and Strecker (1991) propose a Hmong-Mien origin, but Sagart (2011) argues that the direction of borrowing should be the other way around. He instead proposes an internal Chinese origin, suggesting that it is a cognate of 英 (OC *qraŋ, “grasses at their growing/flowering stage, before producing seeds”) without a -r- infix.
Relationship with Tibeto-Burman items is unclear, due to mismatching initials: Tibetan ལྗང་བ (ljang ba, “shoot, sprout”), ལྗང་བུ (ljang bu, “rice seedling”), Lepcha ᰊᰜᰤᰨᰵ (ta-lyong, “young blades of corn, rice”) (Schuessler, 2007).


祐

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷɯs): semantic 礻 (“spirit”) + phonetic 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs).
Exoactive of 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs, “right (side)”) (Schuessler, 2007).


穗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sɢʷids): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + phonetic 惠 (OC *ɢʷiːds).
From Sino-Tibetan; compare Mizo vui (“ear (of grain); to ear”).


省

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (省):
* → Japanese: 省(しょう) (shō)
* → Korean: 성(省) (seong)
* → Vietnamese: tỉnh (省)

→ Bouyei: senj

→ Lü: ᦵᦌᦲᧃ (soen)

→ Zhuang: sengj

Originally 眚. In oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sreŋʔ, *sleŋʔ): phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs, “sprout”) + 目 (“eye”) – "to inspect plants". In Shuowen Jiezi, 眚 and 省 became separate characters. 生 corrupted over time into 少.

Han compound

GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)


筦

For pronunciation and definitions of 筦 – see 管 (“a cylindrical double-reed woodwind instrument made of bamboo or wood; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 管).


竇

Dou of the Yan Mountains had the right method. He taught five sons, each of whom raised the family reputation.

Three Character Classic, circa 13ᵗʰ century CE

Dòu Yānshān, yǒu yìfāng; jiào wǔ zǐ, míng jù yáng.

竇燕山，有義方；教五子，名俱揚。

窦燕山，有义方；教五子，名俱扬。


穆

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *muɡ): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + phonetic 㣎 () – standing grain.


筄

Han char

筄 (Kangxi radical 118, 竹+6, 12 strokes, cangjie input 竹中一人 (HLMO), four-corner 8811₃, composition ⿱𥫗兆)


祭

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): ⺼ (“meat”) + 又 (“hand”) + 示 (“altar, ceremony”) – the hand offers a piece of meat at the altar during a ceremony.
The top is not related to but may be corrupted to 癶 in calligraphy and handwriting; 癶 also served as the second-round simplified form of the component. The left part is ⺼ twisted to the left (compare 將, 然). The right part is a form of 又.


祝

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (祝):
* → Vietnamese: chúc (祝)

Ideogram (指事) – a man kneeling with open mouth (兄) next to an altar (示).
Perhaps related to 觸 (OC *tʰjoɡ, “to butt, knock against”); see there for more (STEDT).

祝允明


盤

/pʰuːn²¹⁻³⁵/

/pʰuːn²¹⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːn): phonetic 般 (OC *praːn, *paːn, *baːn) + semantic 皿.


符

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bo): semantic 𥫗 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 付 (OC *pos).


租

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaː): semantic 禾 + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa).
Land rent was paid in grain.


篡

/t͡sʰu̯än⁵¹/

/t͡sʰu̯än⁵¹/


盆

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (盆):
* → Japanese: 盆(ぼん) (bon)
* → Korean: 분(盆) (bun)
* → Vietnamese: bồn (盆)

⇒ Japanese: 盆(ぼに) (boni)

/pʰuːn²¹⁻³⁵/

/pʰuːn²¹⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯːn): phonetic 分 (OC *pɯn, *bɯns) + semantic 皿.


稅

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (稅):
* → Japanese: 税(ぜい) (zei)
* → Korean: 세(稅) (se)
* → Vietnamese: thuế (稅)

desctree

→ Thai: ส่วย (sùai)
→ Northern Thai: ᩈ᩠ᩅ᩠᩵ᨿ
→ Lao: ສ່ວຍ (suāi)
→ Lü: ᦉᦽᧈ (ṡoy¹)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hljods): semantic 禾 + phonetic 兌 (OC *l'oːds).


理

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (理):
* → Japanese: 理(り) (ri)
* → Korean: 리/이(理) (ri/i)
* → Vietnamese: lí (理)

→ Proto-Vietic:

Middle Vietnamese: mlẽ

Vietnamese: nhẽ, lẽ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rɯʔ): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 里 (OC *rɯʔ).
According to Shuowen Jiezi, the character meant “to polish jade”. The current meaning “to order, tidy up” may be derived from it.
;"to cut jade, to mark out (field boundaries)"
;"to regulate"
;"to administer"
;"envoy, jail official, matchmaker"
:Possibly the same word as 理 (lǐ) "to administer".
:According to Schuessler (2007), from Austroasiatic; compare Old Khmer re (“to move, change position”) & its derivatives Old Khmer pre (“to send, order, assign, appoint, delegate, use, employ, make”), in turn related to paṃre (“to serve; service, duty; servant, delegate, representative, minister”); with Sino-Tibetan causative *s- corresponding to Khmer causative *p-..


瓜

→ Bouyei: gval

→ Zhuang: gve

→ Thai: กวา (gwaa)

Pictogram (象形) - a pictograph of a melon suspended by its vines.
Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007).
Possibly a borrowing from Proto-Hmong-Mien *klˠa (“cucumber”) (Ostapirat, 2016).
Compare also Tibetan ཀུ་བ (ku ba, “gourd”), Burmese သခွား (sa.hkwa:, “cucumber”) (Luce, 1981).


票

Simplified from 𤐫 (火 → 示 and 𢍱 → 覀). Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): semantic 火 (“fire”) + semantic 𢍱 (“to rise high”), which represents two pairs of hands holding and rising an object, perhaps a bag or basket (西). The character originally represented the idea of sparks rising up. By extension, it was also used to mean "token" or "label." Then, the two pair of hands disappeared in the modern version.
Unrelated to the original version of 要 and 栗.


爾

Pictogram (象形) – cloth on a loom, with threads crossing – original form of 檷 (OC *niːlʔ, “loom”). Used phonetically.
; “you; your”
; "that"

尔
尒
𡭗
尓
𠇍
尔
尼
呢
尔
耳
定
領
但
尔
尔

Derek Yee (Hong Kong film director and actor)

爾冬陞

尔冬升


篙

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaːw): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 高 (OC *kaːw).


程

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rleŋ): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + phonetic 呈 (OC *rleŋ, *l'eŋs) – measurements.

Han compound

程頤

程颐


竄

/t͡sʰu̯än⁵¹/

/t͡sʰuɑŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰuaŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰueŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰu̯än⁵¹/

/t͡sʰuɑŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰuaŋ²¹³/

/t͡sʰueŋ²¹³/

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 鼠 (“mouse”) + 穴 (“hole”) – to hide in a hole.
Related to 鑽 (OC *ʔsoːn, *ʔsoːns, “to bore, perforate”), with semantic shift "to bore" > "to hide (in a bored-out area)" > "to go into exile" (STEDT).

改觀

to change appearance, to change one's view


社

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (社):
* → Japanese: 社(しゃ) (sha)
* → Korean: 사(社) (sa)
* → Vietnamese: xã (社)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 示 (“god; deity”) + 土 (“soil”)
Probably related to 土 (OC *l̥ʰaːʔ, “earth, soil”); Takashima (2004) considers them an etymological doublet.


籐

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'ɯːŋ): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 滕 (OC *l'ɯːŋ).


稻

→ Proto-Vietic: *ʔa-lɔːʔ (“paddy rice”)

Vietnamese: lúa

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'uːʔ): semantic 禾 (“grain, cereal, rice”) + phonetic 舀 (OC *lowʔ, *lu, *lo).
Area word (rice culture originated in the south). Often compared with Proto-Hmong-Mien *mbləu (“rice plant/paddy”), whence White Hmong nplej (Bodman, 1980).
The relationship with similar-looking Mon-Khmer words is ambiguous (Schuessler, 2007). Ferlus (2010) proposes a connection to Proto-Mon-Khmer *sruʔ (“paddy”), which in turn is linked to Proto-Mon-Khmer *t₂rawʔ (“taro”), as the two plants share the same farming niche.
Alternatively, Sagart (2011) derives this word from 舀 (OC *lowʔ, *lu, *lo, “to scoop (hulled grain) from a mortar”). If so, since the Hmong-Mien comparandum only has the derived sense of “rice”, it would be borrowed from Chinese rather than the other way around.
The native Min word 粙 may be a variant (Schuessler, 2007, apud Norman, p.c.).


當

desc

→ Vietnamese: đang (present tense marker)

Characters in the same phonetic series (尚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *taːŋ, *taːŋs): phonetic 尚 (OC *djaŋ, *djaŋs) + semantic 田 (“field”) – fields facing each other.
當 (OC *taːŋs, “right; suitable; ought to”) (pronunciation 2) is the exopassive derivation of 當 (OC *taːŋ, “to have the value of; to be equal of; to face; vis-à-vis”) (pronunciation 1), literally "what is being matched".
黨 (OC *taːŋʔ, “class; party”) is the endoactive derivation of 當 (OC *taːŋ, “to be equal of”), literally "that which is equal in rank" (Schuessler, 2007).
Perhaps cognate with Tibetan དང (dang, “(together) with; and”) (Schuessler, 2007).


竺

Shuowen: Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tuːɡ, *tuːɡ, *tuɡ): phonetic 𥫗 (OC *tuɡ) + semantic 二 ― thick.

Han compound

Chu Coching (Chinese meteorologist and geologist）

竺可楨

竺可桢

a surname, commonly adopted by early Buddhist monks.


端

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (端):
* → Japanese: 端(たん) (tan)
* → Korean: 단(端) (dan)
* → Vietnamese: đoan (端)

Characters in the same phonetic series (耑) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *toːn): semantic 立 + phonetic 耑 (OC *toːn).


禮

Austroasiatic languages
Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *riːʔ) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): semantic 礻 (“altar”) + phonetic 豊 (OC *riːʔ, “ceremony”) – performing rites at the altar.
Originally written 豊, see there for more.
Uncertain. Schuessler (2007) proposes that this is an old areal etymon. Compare Tibetan ཞེ་ས (zhe sa, “respect, honor, deference”), རྗེ་བོ (rje bo, “lord, nobleman”), རྗེད (rjed, “to honor; reverence”); Mru [script needed] (ri, “ritual”) is possibly borrowed from Austroasiatic (cf. Mon [script needed] (rèh seh, “to respect, to revere”); Thin Khmu [script needed] (rɛh, “to lift up”); both from Proto-Mon-Khmer *reh (“to raise up, to exalt”)).

cog

礼
豊
礼
𠃞
𤔑
𥜨
𥜪
𫌓
𢢪
𥘆
𰳰
𮕤
𥝏


粘

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *nem): semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 占 (OC *ʔljem, *tjems) – glutinous, sticky rice.


直

desc

→ Old Turkic: tik (vertical, straight, straightforward)

Oghuz: دیك

Azerbaijani: dik

Turkish: dik

Turkmen: dik

Turkmen: dikan (honest, straight, direct)

Oracle bone script: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 目 (“eye”) + 丨 (“vertical stroke”) – vertical stroke above the eye; looking straight ahead. Then, a black dot was drawn inside the vertical stroke and this point later became a horizontal stroke (hence getting a shape similar to 十).
The line on the side appears in bronze script and subsequently stretched under the 目 shape, while the traditional form appears in seal script.
A conservative version is used inside the character 𢛳 (> 德), while the modern version is used inside its variant 惪. Unrelated to 具 and 真.
; "simply; only"
; "straight; right"
; “heterosexual”


築

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tuɡ): phonetic 筑 (OC *tuɡ, *duɡ) + semantic 木 (“wood”).
According to STEDT, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsuk ~ tsik (“to build”); cognate with Tibetan རྩིག (rtsig, “to build”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔtsukᴴ (“to build”) (whence Burmese ဆောက် (hcauk, “to build”)).
On the other hand, Schuessler (2007) derives this from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *truk, whence also Tibetan རྡུག (rdug, “to conquer; to vanquish”) and Burmese တိုက် (tuik, “to dash against; to bump against”). STEDT derives the Tibetan word from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m/r-tuk (“cut; knock; pound”).


秦

Cao Wei
Chen dynasty
Eastern Han dynasty
Eastern Wei
Eastern Wu
Eastern Zhou dynasty
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Han dynasty
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Jin dynasty (265–420)
Liang dynasty
Liao dynasty
Liu Song dynasty
Ming dynasty
Northern Qi
Northern Wei
Northern Zhou
Northern and Southern dynasties
Qin dynasty
Qing dynasty
Shang dynasty
Shu Han
Shuowen
Shuowen Jiezi
Song dynasty
Southern Qi
Southern and Northern dynasties
Spring and Autumn period
Sui dynasty
Tang dynasty
Three Kingdoms
Warring States period
Western Han dynasty
Western Liao
Western Wei
Western Xia
Western Zhou dynasty
Xia dynasty
Xin dynasty
Yuan dynasty
Zhou dynasty
oracle bone script

→ English: Ch'in, Chin, Qin, Tsin

desctree

→? Sanskrit: चीन (cīna)
Niya Prakrit: 𐨕𐨁𐨣 (cina), 𐨕𐨁𐨎𐨣 (ciṃna)
→ Middle Persian: 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (čīn)
Classical Persian: چین (čīn)
Dari: چین (čīn)
Iranian Persian: چین (čin)
Tajik: Чин (Čin)
→ Arabic: اَلصِّين (aṣ-ṣīn)
→ Ancient Greek: Θῖνα (Thîna), Θῖναι (Thînai), Σῖναι (Sînai), Τζίνιστα (Tzínista)
→ Latin: Sinae
→ Portuguese: China
→ Italian: Cina
→ Sardinian: Cina
→ English: China
→ Middle Chinese: 支那 (MC tsye na)
Chinese: 支那 (Zhīnà)
→ Japanese: 支那 (しな, shina)
→ Korean: 지나 (jina)
→ Vietnamese: Chi Na
→ Malay: Cina
Indonesian: Cina
→ Malayalam: ചീന (cīna)
→ Telugu: చీనా (cīnā)
→ Kannada: ಚೀನಾ (cīnā)

In the oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 午 (“pestle”, the original form of 杵) + 廾 (“two hands”) + two 禾 (“grain”). The most conservative variant is 𥢮. A form of its bronze inscription containing only one 禾 developed into the subsequent small seal script form in Shuowen. The 午 and 廾 components have fused into 𡗗 in the modern form. Old Chinese *dzin may derive from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-dz(j)a-k/n/t/s (“to eat; food; to feed; rice”), also recorded as *dzaʔ (Schuessler, 2007).
According to Shuowen Jiezi, the glyph is an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): abbreviated 舂 (“to pound grain”) + 禾 (“grain”) – husked grain. However this would necessitate a phonological shift that is considered unlikely, and furthermore is likely a folk etymology altogether.

Han compound

Qin Liangyu (Ming dynasty female general)

秦良玉


祖

Characters in the same phonetic series (且) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaːʔ): semantic 示 + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa). Specialization of 且. See there for more.
;“to Zucc”

Han compound

Zu Chongzhi (Chinese astronomer and mathematician during the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties)

祖沖之

祖冲之


策

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (策):
* → Japanese: 策(さく) (saku)

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰreːɡ): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 朿 (OC *sʰeɡs).

Han compound

筞
*筴
箣
𠞁
𠞦
𠷽
𢄆
𥳯


糗

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰluʔ): semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 臭 (OC *kʰljus).


簿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːʔ, *baːɡ): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 溥 (OC *pʰaːʔ, *paːɡ).


甲

→ Thai: กาบ (gàap)

→ Zhuang: gyap

→ Old Turkic: qap

→ Kazakh: қап (qap)

Characters in the same phonetic series (甲) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a turtle shell. In the character 卑 it represents a fan held in hand.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *krap (“shell; shield”). Cognate with Tibetan ཁྲབ (khrab, “coat of mail; shield”). Perhaps related to 鞈 (OC *kuːb, *kruːb, “leather jerkin or cuirass”) (Schuessler, 2007).

och-l

𠇚
𡴌
𤰒
鉀
𢓜
徦
到
仔:á


筋

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 竹 (“bamboo”) + 𠛧 (“peel”) – sinew (bamboo is sinewy when peeled). The component 力 is a corruption of 刀 (刂).


竿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaːn): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 干 (OC *kaːn).


紆

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʷa): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 于 (OC *ɢʷa).


糶

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰeːwɢs): semantic 出 (“out”) + phonetic 䊮 (OC *l'eːwɢ, “grain”)


糴

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'eːwɢ): semantic 入 (“in”) + phonetic 䊮 (OC *l'eːwɢ, “grain”)


童

In oracle bone inscriptions, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 䇂 (“chisel”) + 見 (“kneeling person with a huge eye”). It depicts a person getting their eye (目) gouged out, a common punishment for slaves in ancient China. Compare 民, 臧.
In bronze inscriptions, the phonetic component 東 (OC *toːŋ) was added, making the character phono-semantic (形聲／形声).
In the modern form 䇂 has corrupted into 立. The bottom 里 derives from 東 combining with 土, similar to 重.
; “child; servant boy; virgin; bare”
; “shaman”

童貫

童贯


紹

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djewʔ): semantic 糸 + phonetic 召 (OC *dews, *djews).


紛

Characters in the same phonetic series (分) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pʰɯn): semantic 糸 + phonetic 分 (OC *pɯn, *bɯns).


簫

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sɯːw): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 肅 (OC *sɯwɢ).


糧

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *raŋ): semantic 米 + phonetic 量 (OC *raŋ, *raŋs).

Han compound

粮
粮
𥣷
𩞯
𣊼
⿰米卜


組

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaːʔ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa).


站

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rteːms): semantic 立 + phonetic 占 (OC *ʔljem, *tjems). A relatively late character – not found in Shuowen; found in Guangyun.
A Northern Chinese word attested since the 9th-10th centuries. Displaced earlier 立 (OC *rɯb) in most modern northern Chinese varieties.


篤

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tuːɡ): phonetic 竹 (OC *tuɡ) + semantic 馬 (“horse”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tuːk (“deep; thick”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan འཐུག་པ ('thug pa, “thick; deep”).

cog

笃
竺
䈞
笃
督
厾
𧰵
㧻
笃
䐁
㞘
𡰪
笃
涿
笃
笃


綸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kruːn, *ɡ·run): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 侖 (OC *run).


紐

/n̠ʲi̯əu̯⁴¹/

/n̠ʲi̯əu̯⁴¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *nuʔ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 丑 (OC *n̥ʰuʔ).
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-na ~ s-naːr (“nose”); see there for more discussion.


福

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (福):
* → Japanese: 福(ふく) (fuku)
* → Korean: 복(福) (bok)
* → Vietnamese: phúc (福), phước (福)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pɯɡ): semantic 示 + phonetic 畐 (OC *pʰrɯɡ, *bɯɡ).
Proto-Sino-Tibetan [Term?]. Cognate with 富 (OC *pɯɡs, “rich”), Tibetan ཕྱུགས (phyugs, “livestock”).


練

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·reːns): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 柬 (OC *kreːnʔ).


真

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (真):
* → Japanese: 真(しん) (shin)
* → Korean: 진(眞) (jin)
* → Vietnamese: chân (真)

→ Lao: ຈິງ (ching)

→ Old Turkic: 𐰲𐰃𐰣 (čin)

→ Kazakh: шын (şyn)

→ Uzbek: chin

→ Uyghur: چىن (chin)

→ Karakalpak: шын

→ Nogai: шын (şın)

→ Kyrgyz: чын (cın)

→ Yakut: дьиҥ (jiñ)

→ Tatar: чын (çın)

→ Tuvan: шын (şın)

→ Southern Altai: чын (čïn)

→ Bashkir: ысын (ısın)

→ Turkmen: çyn (чын)

→ Chuvash: чӑн (čăn)

→ Eastern Mari: чын (čyn)

→ Thai: จริง (jing)

Originally phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔljin): phonetic 𠂈 (OC *l'ɯːnʔ) + 貝 (“cowry”); 𠂈 (a knife or dagger) was then a phonetic component. Often 丁 (OC *rteːŋ, *teːŋ) (a nail) was added as a second phonetic component at the bottom; originally, it appeared as a black dot. He Linyi posits it to be the original character for 珍 (OC *ʔl'ɯn, “rare; valuable”).
The sound component 𠂈 corrupted into 十 in the modern form, and into 匕 in the orthodox seal script form 眞. The bottom of the character in both forms derives from the components 貝 and 丁 corrupting into 目 and 丌.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Tibetan བདེན (bden, “true; truth”). Possibly connected with 貞 (OC *teŋ) (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

眞
𡙊
𠤛
⿱𥃭大
⿱𥃰大
⿱𥃰六
𰶵
𰶱
⿳上目大
⿳止目六
⿳十且八

真德秀 ― Zhēn Déxiù ― Zhen Dexiu (a Song dynasty scholar)


綠

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *roɡ): semantic 糸 + phonetic 彔 (OC *b·roːɡ).
Starostin derives this from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *rwak (“leaf”), and cites Tibetan ཁྲོག་པོ (khrog po, “botanical term used of leaves standing round the stem scattered or alternately”), Burmese ရွက် (rwak), အရွက် (a.rwak, “leaf”) as cognates. Compare also Kinnauri rāgʻ (“blue, green”).
Cognate with 菉 (“name of a plant of uncertain species”). In modern times this character gave rise to 氯 (“chlorine”).
For the sense “to cuckold”, see 綠頭巾／绿头巾 (lǜtóujīn).

zh-l

綠頭巾／绿头巾 (lǜtóujīn)


男

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (男):
* → Japanese: 男(なん) (nan); 男(だん) (dan)
* → Korean: 남(男) (nam)
* → Vietnamese: nam (男)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 田 (“field”) + 力 (“strength”) – man providing the strength for agricultural and/or other kinds of (physical) labour on a field.
Probably an area word. Compare Proto-Kiranti *nam (“man”), Proto-Monic *k()ɲoom (“young child”), Proto-Wa *h/ʔn[o]m (“young man”), Thai หนุ่ม (nùm, “young man; young”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Wang (1982) connects it to 農 (OC *nuːŋ, “farmer”). Goldin (2021) suggests a connection to 任 (OC *njɯms, “to bear; to be in charge”).


籍

/t͡siɪk̚¹²¹/

/t͡siɪk̚¹²¹/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zjaːɡ): semantic 𥫗 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 耤 (OC *zjaːɡ) – the (bamboo) census books.


皇

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (皇):
* → Japanese: 皇(おう) (ō); 皇(こう) (kō)
* → Korean: 황(皇) (hwang)
* → Vietnamese: hoàng (皇)

Pictogram (象形) ― a lit oil lamp. The derivative 煌 (OC *ɡʷaːŋ) refers to the original word.
Later developed into a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷaːŋ): semantic 白 (“flame”) + phonetic 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ, *ɢʷaŋs).
Bodman (1980) proposes a connection with 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ) "king" (see there for more information).

Han compound

𤽙
𤽚
𤽢
𤽧
𦤃
𦤍
𦤐


紀

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kɯʔ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 己 (OC *kɯʔ).

Han compound

Ji Yun (Chinese scholar and official during the Qing dynasty)

紀昀

纪昀


粥

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (粥):
* → Japanese: 粥(しゅく) (shuku)
* → Korean: 죽(粥) (juk)

→ English: jook, zhou

→ Thai: โจ๊ก (jóok)

→ Zhuang: souh, cuk

The reduced form of the character 鬻 (OC *luɡ), which was an ideogrammic compound and the original character for "congee".
; “congee; rice gruel”
: Alternatively, it may be related to Tibetan ཐུག་པ (thug pa, “Tibetan-style soup, broth, gruel, porridge”) (Bodman, 1980; Schuessler, 2007).


罕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰaːnʔ, *qʰaːns): semantic 网 (“net”) + phonetic 干 (OC *kaːn)


維

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷi): semantic 糸 (“thread”) + abbreviated phonetic 唯 (OC *ɢʷi, *ɢʷiʔ).
The original pronunciation of 隹 (OC *ɢʷi) was lost after the classical period, but can still be seen in other characters of the phonetic series:
* 惟 (OC *ɢʷi, “to think”),
* 唯 (OC *ɢʷi, *ɢʷiʔ, “only”),
* 雖 (OC *sqʰʷi, “although”),
* 帷 (OC *ɢʷril, “curtain, screen”) and
* 淮 (OC *ɡʷriːl, “Huai River”).


羿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋeːs): semantic 羽 + phonetic 幵 (OC *kŋeːn).


羌

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵/

A man 人 with two sheep horns 羊 on his head - barbarian. The character 羊 also indicates the pronunciation. See also 茍 and 美.
Unclear.
Pulleyblank (1983) suggests a derivation from 羊 (OC *laŋ).
Schuessler (2007) prefers to relate it to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-klawŋ (“to guard; to herd; to tend (cattle); to graze; to be at leisure”), whence Tibetan སྐྱོང (skyong, “to guard; to nurture; to keep; to care for”), Asho Chin klóng (“to herd; to graze”), Burmese ကျောင်း (kyaung:, “to feed; to tend (cattle)”); then 羌 means "herders". Compare 養 (OC *laŋʔ, *laŋs, “to raise; to nourish”).
Beckwith (2009) proposes a possible Indo-European origin; compare Tocharian B klank- (“to ride; to go by chariot”).

cog

*羗
𦍑
猐
𠒌
𡸓
𡹽
𡺛
𦍎


竹

Characters in the same phonetic series (竹) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – two bamboo stalks, with leaves. Earlier forms resembled 个 + 个, current form resembles rather ケ + ケ, or 亇 + 亇.
See also the original version of 散.
Compare Proto-Tai *b.twuːkᴰ (“bamboo strip for tying or weaving”), whence Thai ตอก (dtɔ̀ɔk, “bamboo strip”).


纍

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rul, *ruls): phonetic 畾 (OC *ruːl) + semantic 糸 (“fine silk”). The original meaning is "rope; to bind", hence any reference to being tired after hard work in the fields or after sewing is a folk etymology based on modern meaning.
; “to bind; rope”
: Related to 虆 (OC *roːl, *rul, “creeper; rambler”), 藟 (OC *rulʔ, “to wind; creeper”) (Wang, 1982).
: Proto-Tai *roːjꟲ (“to string together”) (whence Thai ร้อย (rɔ́ɔi)) may be a loan from Chinese (Manomaivibool, 1975).
Also see 累 (OC *ruːls, *rolʔ, *rols).


穀

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kloːɡ): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + phonetic 𣪊 ().
From Austroasiatic or an area word (Schuessler, 2007); compare:
* Proto-Vietic *r-koːʔ (“husked rice”), Khmu [script needed] (rŋkoʔ, “husked rice”)
* Jingpho n-gu (n³³ ku³³, “rice (uncooked)”) (from Austroasiatic)
* Proto-Tai *C̬.qawꟲ (“rice”) (borrowed from Austroasiatic, whence Thai ข้าว (kâao, “rice”))
* Burmese ကောက် (kauk, “rice; paddy”) (supported by Hill, 2019)
STEDT compares this to provisional Proto-Tibeto-Burman *kuk (“rice, grain (crop)”).


繼

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *keːɡs): semantic 糸 (“rope”) + phonetic 㡭 ().
The original form may have depicted four 幺 (“silk”).
According to Schuessler 2007, originally the same word as 係 (OC *keːɡs).


羲

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hŋral): semantic 兮 + phonetic 義 (OC *ŋrals).


粟

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

/t͡sʰiɪk̚³²/

Warring States period
oracle bone script

Pictogram (象形) in oracle bone script. During the Warring States period, phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *soɡ): phonetic 角 (OC *kroːɡ, *ɡ·roːɡ) + semantic 米 (“rice”). 角 corrupted into 𠧪 and further into 西

Han compound

粟裕


相

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 木 (“tree”) + 目 (“eye”) – looking at, or watching the tree.
An allofam is 胥 (OC *sŋa, *sŋaʔ, “each other; mutually; all; to observe; to assist”) (Gong, 1995; Schuessler, 2007).
Derivative: 想 (OC *slaŋʔ, “to think”) (“appearance > to visualise > to think”).


相

/ɬiaŋ³³⁻³³⁵/

/ɬiaŋ³³⁻³³⁵/


縛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːɡs, *baɡ): semantic 糸 (“rope”) + phonetic 尃 (OC *pʰa).
Austroasiatic. Compare Khmer ប៉ាក់ (pak, “to embroider”), Mon ဗိုက် (“to put around esp. lower half of body”), Temiar bəg (“to bind”) (Schuessler, 2007). Alternatively, note Thai ผูก (pùuk, “to tie; to bind”) and Vietnamese buộc (“to tie; to bind”).


續

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljoɡs, *ljoɡ): semantic 糸 (“rope”) + phonetic 𧶠 (OC *luɡ).


笑

/t͡sʰiɛu²¹³/

/t͡sʰiɛu²¹³/

Originally ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) or phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sqʰows): phonetic 艸 (OC *sʰuːʔ, “grass”) + semantic 犬 (“dog”).
Later, phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sqʰows): semantic 竹 + phonetic 夭 (OC *qoːwʔ, *qrow, *qrowʔ).


父

Pictogram (象形) – A hand holding a stone blade, referring to a man working with a stone axe.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *p/ba (“male; father”).
Regular development from Middle Chinese would lead to the labiodental fù in Mandarin, but the colloquial word resisted the sound changes and is now written as 爸 (bà), with the 巴 (bā) phonetic component added to it to indicate the unchanged bilabial initial.


翦

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

翦伯贊

翦伯赞


第

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *diːls): semantic 𥫗 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 弟 (OC *diːlʔ, *diːls). 竹 here refers to the bamboo strips used for writing (e.g. accounting, classification) in ancient times. See also 等.
Alternatively, may have originally been written 弟.
Karlgren (1956: 14) connects this word with → tī 梯 ‘ladder’.


管

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (管):
* → Japanese: 管(かん) (kan)
* → Korean: 관(管) (gwan)
* → Vietnamese: quản (管)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *koːnʔ): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 官 (OC *koːn).

Han compound

管寧

管宁


羋

From a Kam–Tai word for “bear” (Schuessler, 2007 apud Yan, 1983); compare Proto-Tai *ʰmwɯjᴬ (“bear”) (> Thai หมี (mǐi), Zhuang mui). The Records of the Grand Historian records that this was the family name (姓) of the ruling family of the state of Chu (楚), while 熊 (OC *ɢʷlɯm, “bear”) was the clan name (氏).


繞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋjewʔ, *ŋjaws): semantic 糸 (“rope”) + phonetic 堯 (OC *ŋeːw).


署

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djas): semantic 罒 + phonetic 者 (OC *tjaːʔ); the upper component is a web, not an eye.
Baxter and Sagart (2014) derive it from a root *taʔ (“to place”), from which they also derive 緒 (OC *s-m-taʔ, “to arrange in order”). The root also has a velar variant *tak, whence 著 (OC *tak, “to place”), 著 (OC *tak-s, “visible”), 席 (OC *s-m-tAk, “mat”) (Baxter and Sagart, 2014; Schuessler, 2007).


耨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *noːɡs, *nuːɡ): semantic 耒 (“plough”) + phonetic 辱 (OC *njoɡ).
Sino-Tibetan; compare Mizo hnu (“work finished; harvested or weed area”) (Schuessler, 2007). 農 (OC *nuːŋ) may be a derivative (ibid.).


縣

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (縣):
* → Japanese: 県(けん) (ken); 県(げん) (gen)
* → Korean: 현(縣) (hyeon)
* → Vietnamese: huyện (縣)

→ English: hsien, xian

→ Iu Mien: nquenc

→ Lingao: hin⁴

desc

→ Lü: ᦶᦉᧃᧈ (ṡaen¹)

→ Lü: ᦶᦉᧃᧈ (ṡaen¹)

→ Mongolian: сияан (sijaan)

→ Zhuang: yen

/jᵘɔn³²⁻³²⁵/

/jᵘɔn³²⁻³²⁵/

Shuowen: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 𥄉 + 系 – to hang 系 by the head 𥄉 (hair hanging down).
Original form of 懸. Originally in bronze and bamboo slip scripts, Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 目 + 木 + 糸 - to hang with the string 糸 by the head 目 (using an eye to represent a head) on a tree 木. In Qin bamboo slip scripts, some of 目 + 木 were corrupted to 県 (with one straight horizontal line rather than 𠃊) which interpreted to a reversed 首 head by Shuowen, and 糸 was corrupted to 系.


聶

聶耳

聂耳


緩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷaːnʔ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 爰 (OC *ɢʷan).


耵

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *teːŋʔ): semantic 耳 (“ear”) + phonetic 丁 (OC *rteːŋ, *teːŋ).


紙

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (紙):
* → Japanese: 紙(し) (shi)
* → Korean: 지(紙) (ji)
* → Vietnamese: chỉ (紙)

→ Lao: ເຈ້ຍ (chīa, “paper”)

→ Shan: ၸေႈ (tsēe, “paper”)

→ Zhuang: ceij (“paper”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kjeʔ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 氏 (OC *skeŋ, *kje, *ɡjeʔ).
Unknown. It has been connected to Vietnamese giấy (< Proto-Vietic *k-cajʔ).


聿

Pictogram (象形) or
ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): hand (又) holding a brush. Unrelated to 建, in which the hand is holding a pole. Partly related to 津.


繳

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kleːwʔ, *kljewɢ, *ɡreːɡ): semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 敫 (OC *kleːwɢs, *ɢlewɢ, *kleːwɢ) – raw silk thread.
Probably related to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *kyak (“navel, umbilical cord, rope”), the latter whence Burmese ချက် (hkyak, “navel”), particularly based on the pronunciation for the "arrow string" sense (STEDT).

cog

缴
缴
筊
徼
賭
檄
儌
九
局


耿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːŋʔ): abbreviated phonetic 烓 (OC *qʷeː, *kʰʷeːŋʔ) + semantic 耳. Alternatively phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːŋʔ): abbreviated phonetic 聖 (OC *hljeŋs) + semantic 火.

Han compound

耿爽


等

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (等):
* → Japanese: 等(とう) (tō)
* → Korean: 등(等) (deung)
* → Vietnamese: đẳng (等)

→ Proto-Turkic: *teŋ (“equal”) (see there for further descendants)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tɯːʔ, *tɯːŋʔ): semantic 竹 (“bamboo”) + phonetic 寺 (OC *ljɯs).
竹 here refers to the bamboo strips used for writing (e.g. grading, classification) in ancient times. 寺 (OC *ljɯs) was originally used phonetically; the character was subsequently borrowed for another word with the same meaning, but with no phonetic resemblance to 寺.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“top; to rise; to raise”) (STEDT). Endoactive of 登 (OC *tɯːŋ, “to rise; to ascend”) (Schuessler, 2007).

liushu

OC *tɯːʔ, *tɯːŋʔ


糜

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mral): phonetic 麻 (OC *mraːl) + semantic 米 (“rice”).


習

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (習):
* → Japanese: 習(しゅう) (shū)
* → Korean: 습(習) (seup)
* → Vietnamese: tập (習)

→ English: Hsi, Xi

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 羽 (“wings”) + 日 (“sun”) – to learn to fly, to practice flying.
In the current form, 日 (rì, “sun”) has changed to 白 (bái, “white”), so the present form is 羽 (“wings”) + 白 (“white”).
Alternatively, the original form may have been a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ljub): phonetic 彗 (OC *sɢʷeds, *ɢʷeds, *sɢʷids) + semantic 日 (“sun”).
Two general semantic fields are found in the senses: "to flap the wings; to flutter" and "to practice". They are generally considered to be the same word, with the link being "to repeatedly flap the wings (in order to learn to fly)", a sense attested in Liji.
Area word:
* Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-lwap (“to learn”): Tibetan སློབ (slob, “to learn”), སློབས (slobs, “exercise; training”); Mizo tlip (“to repeat; to do again; to perfect”),
* Mon-Khmer: Khmer ធ្លាប់ (thlŏəp, “to become accustomed to; to have the habit of; marker of continuous action in the past”); Proto-Mon *le̤p ("to know how to, be skilled in") > Mon လေပ် (lèp, “to be versed in”).

cog

Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

習近平

习近平


胥

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sŋa, *sŋaʔ): phonetic 疋 (OC *ŋraːʔ, *sŋra, *sŋraʔ) + semantic 月 (“flesh”)


群

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (群):
* → Japanese: 群(ぐん) (gun)

/t͡ɕʰyə̯ɻ³⁵/

/t͡ɕʰyə̯ɻ³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡlun): phonetic 君 (OC *klun) + semantic 羊.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-kul (“twenty; all”); cognate with 昆 (OC *kuːn, “swarming”), Tibetan ཀུན (kun, “all”), Burmese အကုန် (a.kun, “all”) (Benedict, 1972; STEDT).


肅

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 𦘒 (“hand holding brush”) + 𣶒 (“abyss”). Uncertain. One interpretation says it depicts a person sweeping or walking with a staff near an abyss, conveying solemnity or respectful handling of affairs.

Han compound

肃
粛
𦘛
𦘡
䏋
𦘜
𦘝
𢙻


脊

Originally a pictogram (象形) of a fish spine. 肉 was added later to distinguish it. The top component corrupted into 𠦬, making it a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔseɡ): phonetic 朿 (OC *sʰeɡs) + semantic 肉 (“flesh”).


耀

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lewɢs): semantic 光 (“light; beam; ray”) + phonetic 翟 (OC *r'aːwɢ, *l'eːwɢ).
Probably related to 曜 (OC *lewɢs, “to shine; daylight”); see there for more (STEDT).


累

Simplified from 纍 (畾 → 田).
Folk etymology considers this character as an ideographic compound representing the tiredness after work. In ancient China, men were working in the field (田) while women sewed (糸).
Various semantic fields can be distinguished:
; “to add; to accumulate”
; “to damage; exhausted; tired”
; “to bind; to wind around”


羨

Dai Kan-Wa Jiten
Guo Zhongshu
Hanyu Da Cidian
Hanyu Da Zidian
Zhongwen Da Cidian

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 羊 (“sheep”) + 㳄 (“saliva”) – to envy.
羊 may be interpreted as a beautiful sheep or good mutton (cf. 美 “beautiful” and 善 “good”).
The Kangxi Dictionary, following 《佩觿》, enters the word in etymology 2 as 羡, separating it from 羨 (etymology 1). This is also followed by dictionaries such as Hanyu Da Cidian and Dai Kan-Wa Jiten, but Zhongwen Da Cidian disagrees with this treatment. (Hanyu Da Zidian regards 羡 as the main form of all pronunciations.) According to 《說文解字羣經正字》:
Possibly related to 餘 (OC *la, “surplus”) (Wang, 1982).

羨, meaning "to covet", is now frequently written as 羡 in the classics. Guo Zhongshu's Peixi distinguishes 羨 and 羡 as separate characters. 羡, fanqie 以脂, name of a place in Jiangxia. 羨, fanqie 似面, to desire. This is not the case. There's no such character with the 次 element in character dictionaries. There is only one character but several pronunciations.

《說文解字羣經正字》, quoted from Zhongwen Da Cidian

羨 (Xiàn), tānyù yě, jīn jīngdiǎn wǎngwǎng zuò 羡. Guō Zhōngshù “Pèixī” fēn 羨 (xiàn), 羡 (yí) wéi èr zì. Yí, yǐ zhī fān, Jiāngxià dìmíng; xiàn, sì miàn fān, mù yě. Fēi yě, zìshū wú cóng 次 (cì) zhī zì, wéi yī zì ér shù yīn ěr.

羨，貪欲也，今經典往往作羡。郭忠恕《佩觿》分羨、羡爲二字。羡，以脂翻，江夏地名；羨，似面翻，慕也。非也，字書無从次之字，惟一字而數音耳。

羡，贪欲也，今经典往往作羡。郭忠恕《佩觿》分羡、羡为二字。羡，以脂翻，江夏地名；羡，似面翻，慕也。非也，字书无从次之字，惟一字而数音耳。


終

Originally a pictogram (象形), 夂 (definition 2) – the knot at the end of a cord. Later reformulated as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjuŋ): semantic 糹 + phonetic 冬 (OC *tuːŋ).
Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Chepang दोङःसा (doŋʔ‑, “to end; to cease”), Lai [script needed] (doŋ / doʔŋ, “to end”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Wang (1982) derives 冬 (OC *tuːŋ, “winter”) from this word.

cog

终
𣧩
𠔾
𠂂
𡦿
𢍐
𤽘
𤽬
𦤒
𢒣
𣊂
𣈩
𣊜
𪚪
𦄖

被難

to be killed in a disaster, political incident


縫

→ Isan: ฝุง

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *boŋ, *boŋs): semantic 糹 + phonetic 逢 (OC *boŋ).


縱

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsloŋ, *ʔsloŋs): semantic 糸 + phonetic 從 (OC *zloŋ, *zloŋ, *zloŋs).


紫

Characters in the same phonetic series (此) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔseʔ): phonetic 此 (OC *sʰeʔ) + semantic 糸.


石

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (石):
* → Japanese: 石(せき) (seki)
* → Korean: 석(石) (seok)
* → Vietnamese: thạch (石)

→ Tocharian B: cāk

Characters in the same phonetic series (石) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a stone beneath a cliff (厂). The cliff was subsequently distorted into 丆; compare 叚, 段 as well as 度, 席.
Alternatively, a cave set into the side of a cliff or mountain.
Unknown. Probably related to Proto-Vietic *l-taːʔ (“stone”) (whence Vietnamese đá and Khmer ដា (daa, “rock; stone”)) (Schuessler, 2007), to which Chinese would have added the familiar final -k.

Han etyl

Shih Yang (a pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas during the early 19th century)

石陽

石阳


線

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sqʰeːns): semantic 糹 + phonetic 泉 (OC *sɡʷen).


繩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɦbljɯŋ): semantic 糸 + phonetic 黽 (OC *mlenʔ, *mliŋʔ, *mreːŋʔ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bliŋ (“string; thread; cord”); compare Japhug tɯmbri (“rope”), Burmese အမျှင် (a.hmyang, “string”), Tangut 𘘫 (*bji², “rope”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Jacques, 2014; Zhang, Jacques and Lai, 2019).

inh

General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)


給

Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *krub): semantic 糸 + phonetic 合 (OC *kuːb, *ɡuːb).
Starostin reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *qǝ̆p (“to give; to supply”), comparing it to Burmese အပ် (ap, “to commit; to deliver; to hand over”), Jingpho ap (“to hand over”), Lepcha ᰀᰤᰬᰱ (kjep, “to add to; to multiply”), ᰃᰤᰱ (gjap, “many”).
In Mandarin, Jin and Xiang, pronunciations 1 and 2 are generally thought of as colloquial and literary readings respectively, from the same Middle Chinese etymon (Zhengzhang, 2002; Liu, 2021; among others). Pronunciation 2, the literary reading, is a regular reflex from Middle Chinese. However, since pronunciation 1 is highly irregular, others have proposed alternative etymologies for it:
* From the contraction of 過與 (MC kwaH yoX, “to pass to”) (Ikeda, 1962; Hirayama, 2000, 2010; Wang, 2022);
* From 乞 (MC khj+t|khj+jH, “to give”) (Zhang, 1989); and
* From 饋 (MC gwijH, “to gift”) (Shimura, 1995).


肖

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

/t͡sʰiːu̯³³/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *slew, *slews): phonetic 小 (OC *smewʔ) + semantic 肉 (“meat”).


肖

Second round of simplified Chinese characters

second round of Chinese character simplification

Second round simplified form of 蕭／萧 (xiāo).

肖戰

肖战


舄

Pictogram (象形): a kind of bird. A more conservative variant is 舃.


臾

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 𦥑 (“two hands”) + 人 (“person”) – two hands dragging a person. Compare 曳.


經

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *keːŋ, *keːŋs): semantic 糸 (“silk; thread”) + phonetic 巠 (OC *keːŋ).


芮

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *njobs): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 內 (OC *nuːbs).


罷

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 网 + 能 - catch a bear with a web. According to Shuowen Jiezi, it originally means "catch criminals"; according to Zhang Shunhui (張舜徽), it means "tired" with a reference to a bear being caught while tired after a chase. The web at the top of the character is well visible in its original version 𦋼.
Likely cognate with Proto-Lolo-Burmese *N-bri¹/² (“full, complete”), whence Burmese ပြီ (pri, “to finish”) (STEDT).


臧

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 臣 (“eye”) + 戈 (“spear;weapon”) – "slave; prisoner of war" (slaves in ancient China were blinded, hence the 臣 component. Hence, the original version is 𦣣.
The phonetic component 爿 (OC *zaŋ), absent in the oracle-bone script, was added at a later stage (see Yang, 1965, and references therein), leading Shuowen to interpret the character as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaːŋ): phonetic 戕 (OC *kaːl, *ʔsaːŋ, *zaŋ) + semantic 臣.
Perhaps borrowed phonetically to mean "generous".
See also 童, 民, and 盲.
Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Tibetan བཟང (bzang, “good; fine”) (Coblin, 1986).

Han compound

臧克家


脩

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *slɯw): phonetic 攸 (OC *lɯw) + semantic 肉 (“meat”)


育

A later alternative form of 毓 (yù). Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *luɡ): semantic 𠫓 (“upside-down baby, being born”) + phonetic 肉 (OC *njuɡ).
See 毓 (yù) for the earlier glyph.
Schuessler, 2007 compares Jingpho [script needed] (lu³¹, “to give birth (to a child)”), based on Zhengzhang's Old Chinese reconstruction; however, Baxter and Sagart's reconstruction makes a connection doubtful. For the B-S reconstruction, note similarities to Burmese မွေး (mwe:, “to give birth, raise”).


舒

phonetic 舍 (OC *hljaːʔ, *hljaːs) + phonetic 予 (OC *la, *laʔ)
Possibly connected to 紓 (OC *hlja, *ɦljaʔ, “to loosen, relax”).

och-l

Shu Qingchun (real name of the writer Lao She)

舒慶春

舒庆春


聚

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zloʔ, *zlos): phonetic 取 (OC *sʰloːʔ, *sʰloʔ) + semantic 乑 (“three men”).
Compare Burmese စု (cu., “to accumulate”) (Luce, 1981).

Han compound

冣
𨛿
𦼈
𧅞
𣷗
𧚿
𬥁
𫮣
𦖰


苻

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bo): semantic 艹 + phonetic 付 (OC *pos).


致

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tiɡs): phonetic 至 (OC *tjiɡs) + semantic 攵.


荅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tkuːb): semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 合 (OC *kuːb, *ɡuːb).
; “small bean”


艮

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 目 (“eye”) + 人 (“person”) — a person looking back (Ji Xusheng, 2004) to introduce the concept of disobedience and/or limit. Similar but unrelated to 見.


范

→ English: Fan

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bomʔ): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 氾 (OC *pʰoms, *bom).

Han compound

范仲淹


腰

→ Proto-Tai: *ˀjeːwᴬ (“waist”)

Lao: ແອວ (ʼǣu)

Northern Thai: ᩋᩯ᩠ᩅ

Tai Dam: ꪵꪮꪫ

Thai: เอว (eeo)

Shan: ဢႅဝ် (ʼěao)

Zhuang: yiu

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qew): semantic ⺼ (“flesh”) + phonetic 要 (OC *qew, *qews).


茬

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 艸 + phonetic 在 (OC *zlɯːʔ, *zlɯːs).


義

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (義):
* → Japanese: 義(ぎ) (gi)
* → Korean: 의(義) (ui)
* → Vietnamese: nghĩa (義)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋrals): phonetic 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ) + semantic 羊. The component 羊 here signifies "good; beautiful; auspicious" and not "sheep". See 祥, 善 and 幸.
Cognate with 儀 (OC *ŋral, “ceremony; appearance”). See there for more.


羅

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 网 (“net”) + 維 (“bird (tied with string)”) — net for catching birds. The original version is 𦌴.
Perhaps related to Tibetan དྲ (dra, “net”), རྒྱ (rgya, “net; trap”), Tangut 𗙲 (*rer², “net”) (Schuessler, 2007; Hill, 2014; Jacques, 2014).

Luo Guanzhong (author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

羅貫中

罗贯中

Lo Ta-yu (Taiwanese singer and songwriter)

羅大佑

罗大佑


舟

Pictogram (象形) – a boat. It appears in the shape of 月 in 前.
According to Schuessler (2007), a loan from Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɗuuk ~ *ɗuk (“boat, canoe”), whence Khmer ទូក (tuuk) and Vietnamese nốc (< Proto-Vietic *ɗoːk (“boat”)). Foreign closed syllables having a long main vowel often correspond to open syllables in Old Chinese.
Possibly cognate of 輈 (OC *tɯw, “trunk, pole”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Yang Xiong's Fangyan says that Old Chinese 舟 (OC *tjɯw) is common in central and eastern China, while its synonym 船 (OC *ɦljon) is used in western China.


苴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zraː, *ʔsa, *ʔsaʔ, *sʰa): semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 且 (OC *sʰjaːʔ, *ʔsa).


荊

Table of General Standard Chinese Characters

; "shrub; alternative name of Chu"
; "(humble) my wife; poor"


茹

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *nja, *njaʔ, *njas): semantic 艹 (“grass, plants”) + phonetic 如 (OC *nja, *njas) – plant roots, part of a plant.
Schuessler (2007) proposes an Austroasiatic origin; compare Kharia [script needed] (ɲoʔ, “to eat”) and Proto-Vietic *s-nja:ʔ (“to chew, to masticate”) (> Vietnamese nhá). Schuessler (2003) also compares 茹 with Jingpho noʔ¹ 'to eat' and Proto-Mienic *ʔnəkᴰ 'to swallow'.


莘

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-r(i/u)ŋ (“long; to elongate”); cognate with Burmese ရှည် (hrany, “idem”) (Luce 1981, STEDT?).


苑

Real name of Kingdom Yuen (Hong Kong actress)

苑麗瓊

苑丽琼


芸

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢun): semantic 艸 + phonetic 云 (OC *ɢun).


茅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mruː): semantic 艹 (“plant”) + phonetic 矛 (OC *mu).

Han compound

茅于軾

茅于轼


翁

Sino-Xenic (翁):
* → Vietnamese: ông (翁)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qloːŋ): phonetic 公 (OC *kloːŋ) + semantic 羽 (“wings”). Originally representing the meaning “feathers”, it was later loaned to mean “old man” and similar senses, by association with the semantic 公.
Possibly Sino-Tibetan. Compare Mizo ung (“to be old, elderly, aged; to be venerable, antique, ancient; to be of long standing, to be an old inhabitant, to be an old stager (v.; adj.)”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Baxter & Sagart (2017) included 翁 (OC *qˤoŋ) "old man" in the same word-family as 公 (OC *C.qˤoŋ) "father, prince" and 妐 (OC *t-qoŋ) "husband's father".

cog

Weng Tonghe (Qing dynasty government official)

翁同龢

Vincent Ng (Singaporean martial artist and former actor)

翁清海


羊

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (羊):
* → Japanese: 羊(よう) (yō)
* → Korean: 양(羊) (yang)
* → Vietnamese: dương (羊)

Wutunhua: yang

Characters in the same phonetic series (羊) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – picture of a ram's head. See also the original version of 沈.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-jaŋ (“sheep; yak”). Cognate with Tibetan གཡག (g.yag, “yak”), Lepcha ᰚᰩᰭ (yók, “yak”), Tangut 𗇼 (*gjwã², “goat”), Northern Tujia zo³⁵ (“goat; sheep”).


菑

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsrɯ, *ʔsɯː, *ʔsɯː): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 甾 (OC *ʔsrɯ).
菑 (OC *tsrə) is r-causative of 災 (OC *tsə̂) (Schuessler, 2007), both ultimately from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa-t ~ dza-t (“hot, fever, hurt, ill, temper”) (STEDT)
Possibly same word as 緇 (OC *tsrə) "black < color of burnt soil?" (Schuessler, 2007)


般

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 舟 (“boat”) + 殳 (“rotate”).

ncog

Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “turn, way, manner”)


萇

Han char

萇 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+8, 14 strokes, cangjie input 廿尸一女 (TSMV), four-corner 4473₂, composition ⿱艹長)


萇

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *daŋ): semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 長 (OC *taŋʔ, *daŋ, *daŋs).


荔

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reːbs, *rebs): semantic 艸 + phonetic 劦 (OC *ɦleːb).


苟

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *koːʔ): semantic 艹 + phonetic 句 (OC *koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo) – a kind of grass, in original sense.


者

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (者):
* → Japanese: 者(しゃ) (sha)
* → Korean: 자(者) (ja)
* → Vietnamese: giả (者)

Pictogram (象形) – a sugarcane with full stems, with some points around (either leaves or drops of sweet liquid) and an open and smiling mouth at the bottom. This is the original character for either 蔗 (OC *tjaːɡs, “sugarcane”) or 煮 (OC *tjaʔ, “to boil”). Phonetically loaned for abstract meanings.
Top component 耂 is unrelated to 老, 考, and 孝.
The variant form with an additional 丶 stroke below 耂 is influenced by Shuowen, which considered 白 as the bottom component of 者.
; one who, -er, nominalizing suffix
Etymologically related to 之 (OC *tjɯ, “nominalizing, possessive particle”) and perhaps colloquial 的 (Pulleyblank, 1995).

och-l

者
⿱土⿸丿日
⿱圡⿸丿日


舅

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯²¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴⁵/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯²¹/

/t͡ɕi̯əu̯⁴⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡuʔ): phonetic 臼 (OC *ɡuʔ) + semantic 男 (“male; man”).
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)əw-n (“elder brother; senior male relative”); compare Tibetan ཨ་ཁུ (a khu), ཁུ་བོ (khu bo, “father's brother”), Burmese အစ်ကို (ackui, “elder brother”) (Sagart, 2017d; STEDT). Possibly related to 舊 (OC *ɡʷɯs, “old; ancient”), 昆 (OC *kuːn, “elder brother”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT); see there for more.

inh

> - mother's elder brother; < - mother's younger brother; >< - face-to-face; <> - non-face-to-face


蒯

/kʰu̯aɪ̯²¹⁴/

/kʰu̯aɪ̯²¹⁴/

𦳋
𦬿
𦰵
𠣲
𦮍
𠣯
䓒


茂

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mus): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 戊 (OC *mus).
Applying this character to mean “cyclopentadiene” in organic chemistry results from the decomposition of the character as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 艸 (“radical for aromatic compounds”) + 戊 (“five-carbon ring”), since the conjugate base of cyclopentadiene (cyclopentadienyl anion) is aromatic.


聞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mɯn, *mɯns): phonetic 門 (OC *mɯːn) + semantic 耳 (“ear”). Compare 問 (OC *mɯns).
Probably derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-nam (“to smell”), whence Tibetan མནམ་པ (mnam pa, “to smell of”), Tibetan སྣོམ་པ (snom pa, “to smell”), Jingpho manam (mə³¹ nam⁵⁵, “smell”), Burmese နမ် (nam, “to smell”), Burmese နံ (nam, “to stink”) (Schuessler, 2007). The inversion of n and m in Chinese is the result of labial dissimilation or prefix-preemption.
In almost all major Tibeto-Burman languages, this etymon means only "to smell". One or other factors may
help explain the application of "to hear" in Chinese. The semantic affinities of hear ~ smell have a parallel in Tibeto-Burman *na "ear ~ nose" and hence perhaps in Sino-Tibetan (see *r/g-na (“ear”)). The Chinese stem may have converged with a Mon-Khmer etymon (cf. Proto-Monic *smaaɲ (“to inquire”) (ibid.). Also note Tibetan མཉན་པ (mnyan pa, “to listen to; to hear”) which is phonologically quite close to Chinese.
Pronunciation 2 ("be heard about; renowned; fame") is a derivation of pronunciation 1, with passive suffix *-s (ibid.).
問 (OC *mɯns, “to ask”) is the exoactive derivation of pronunciation 1 with suffix *-s, literally "let (me) hear" (ibid.).

cog

聞一多

闻一多


荼

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rlaː, *ɦlja, *l'aː): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 余 (OC *la)


臨

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *b·rɯm, *b·rɯms): semantic 臣 (“eye”) + semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 品 (OC *pʰrɯmʔ, “objects”) – a person looking down at some objects.
Alternatively analyzed as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *b·rɯm, *b·rɯms): semantic 臥 + phonetic 品 (OC *pʰrɯmʔ).

Han compound

临
𦣲
𦣷
瀶
临
凜
斂


臣

Characters in the same phonetic series (臣) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – A vertical eye of a man looking downwards. As an individual character it has taken on the meanings “slave; servant; minister”, while the meaning relating to eyes appears when used as a radical, such as in 臨 (“to look down at”) and 監 (“to inspect”).
Compare 目. Unrelated to 𦣞.
In Old Chinese, nominalization with nasal suffix of the verb 視 (OC *ɡljilʔ, *ɡljils, *ɢljils, “to watch”), hence literally "watcher; supervisor" (Schuessler 2007). In the archaic language of the Shang oracle bones (late second millennium BCE), this word referred to "royal officers, many of whose individual names were recorded, who served in the royal court, received the king's orders to launch military expeditions and other tasks, and received royal gifts" (Keightley 2012).


脫

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (脫):
* → Vietnamese: thoát (脫)

→ Ahom: 𑜌𑜨𑜄𑜫 (thot)

→ Lao: ຖອດ (thǭt)

desc

→ Lü: ᦏᦸᧆᧈ (ṫhoad¹)

→ Lü: ᦏᦸᧆᧈ (ṫhoad¹)

→ Northern Thai: ᨳᩬᨯ

→ Tai Dón: ꪖꪮꪒ

→ Tai Nüa: ᥗᥨᥖᥱ (thǒt)

→ Thai: ถอด (tɔ̀ɔt)

→ Shan: ထွတ်ႇ (thàut)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰoːd, *l'oːd): semantic ⺼ + phonetic 兌 (OC *l'oːds).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-lwat (“free; release; slip; dislocate”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007).
:Within Chinese, cognate with 蛻 (OC *l̥ʰoːds, “exuviae (skin cast off during molting)”), 愉 (OC *lo, “relax > happy, pleased”), 悅 (OC lod, “contented”), 說 (OC *hljod, “to speak, to explain”), 說 (OC *hljods, “to persuade”), 偷 (OC *l̥ʰoː, “to steal”), 奪 (OC *Cə.lˁot, “to rob, to snatch”);
:Outside Chinese, cognate with Tibetan གློད་པ (glod pa, “loosen, relax, slacken”), Tibetan ཧློད་པ (hlod pa, “loose, relaxed”), Lepcha ᰒᰤᰦᰳ (flját), ᰒᰤᰩᰳ (fljót), Burmese လွှတ် (hlwat), Burmese ချွတ် (hkywat).
In its use in Northern Wu languages, such as Shanghainese, Suzhounese, and Ningbonese, as well as Lower Yangtze Mandarin, it is likely from a grammaticalisation of the verb. Compare with 落 (Wuxi, Changzhou) and 掉 (Haining, Danyang)

cog

Kasim Tuet (Chinese-born Hong Kong entrepreneur)

脫維善

脱维善


苞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pruː): semantic 艹 + phonetic 包 (OC *pruː).
Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔ-bu ~ *pu (“to be born; birth; bud; bloom”). See 阜 (OC *buʔ, “big mound”) for more.


耍

From 傻 (MC srwaeX, “foolish”) (Zhengzhang, 2003).


舞

→ Vietnamese: múa

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *maʔ): abbreviated phonetic 無 (OC *ma) + semantic 舛 (“steps, feet in convergent direction”). This character was coined to preserve the original meaning of 無, which is "dancing"; hence, the upper component also adds part of the meaning. A conservative variant is 𦨅.
Perhaps related to Tibetan བྲོ (bro, “dance (noun)”), or related to 巫 (OC *ma, “shaman”) (Schuessler, 2007).


董

→ English: Dong, Tung, Tang

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *toːŋʔ): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 重 (OC *doŋ, *doŋʔ, *doŋs).

Han compound

董卓


繁

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baːl, *baːn, *ban): phonetic 敏 (OC *mrɯʔ, *mrɯŋʔ) + semantic 糸 (“silk”)
The same word as 蕃 (OC *ban, “luxuriant; numerous”). See there for more.


莞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kŋoːn, *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋroːnʔ): semantic 艸 + phonetic 完 (OC *ɦŋoːn).


苗

/mi̯aʊ̯ɻʷ³⁵/

/mi̯aʊ̯ɻʷ³⁵/

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 艸 (“grass”) + 田 (“field”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(m/b)rəw (“grain; seed; lineage”) (STEDT); see 物 (OC *mɯd, “thing, matter, substance”) for more cognates.

inh

Miu Tsui-fa (mother of fictional martial artist Fong Sai-yuk)

苗翠花


芒

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *maːŋ, *maŋ): semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 亡 (OC *maŋ); perhaps, its original form was 方.
Unclear. Schuessler (2007) lists two possible comparanda:
* Proto-Kam-Sui *mpraːŋ¹ (“ear (of grain)”), which may be problematic due to inconsistent phonetic correspondence with the Middle Chinese form; and
* Burmese အမှင် (a.hmang, “stiff hair; bristles”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ma-ŋ (“beard; moustache”) (STEDT).


蔡

desc

→ English: Cai, Tsai, Ts'ai, Choi, Choy, Tsoi, Chua

→ Tagalog: Chua (via Hokkien)

/t͡sʰɔːi̯³³/

/t͡sʰɔːi̯³³/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰlaːds): semantic 艸 (“vegetation”) + phonetic 祭 (OC *ʔsreːds, *ʔsleds).

Han compound

Tsai Ing-wen (President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), 2016–2024)

蔡英文

蔡倫

蔡伦


與

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *la, *laʔ, *las): phonetic 舁 (OC *la, “raised hands”) + phonetic 牙 (OC *ŋraː). Both components are phonetic. The closest version to the original is 𦥸.
; "to be with; to associate with"
; "to give"

Han compound

与
𠔔
𠔜
𦥸
𦦲
𫝌
𫟋
𫤰
𭁇
𭁈
𭁉
𭁕
𮍫
𮍬
𮍭
𮍰


興

→ Thai: เฮง (heng) (via Teochew)

→ Khmer: ហេង (heng)

Characters in the same phonetic series (興) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 舁 (“to raise”) + 同 (“together”) – to hold up together.


葬

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 茻 (“grass”) + 死 (“dead person”) – bury the dead 死 in the grass 茻. Top is now grass radical (艹), while bottom is simplified to 廾, hence graphically 艹 + 死 + 廾.

塟
𦵏
𦽱
𧂥
𦿑
𦱼
𦴓


翼

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (翼):
* → Japanese: 翼(よく) (yoku)
* → Korean: 익(翼) (ik)

→ Translingual: Yi

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lɯɡ): semantic 羽 + phonetic 異 (OC *lɯɡs).
Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lak ~ C-jak (“arm, hand, wing”), especially if the Old Chinese is reconstructed with *l- (Schuessler, 2007; Handel, 2009). Cognate with 腋 (OC *laːɡ, “armpit”), Tibetan ལག་པ (lag pa, “hand, arm”), Burmese လက် (lak, “hand, arm”).
However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstruct the Old Chinese with *-p instead of *-k because of evidence from the oracle bones, making it difficult to compare to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lak. The shift from the original version *ɢrəp to a later version *ɢrək is due to dialectal variation.
Sagart (2020) proposes a revised Old Chinese reconstruction *m-rəp, which he compares to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/b-ram (“rib”).


薛

Xue Juzheng (lead author of the Old History of the Five Dynasties)

薛居正


菌

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡonʔ, *ɡrunʔ): semantic 艹 + phonetic 囷 (OC *kʰrun, *ɡrun).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-r(i/u)n (“mushroom; fungus”) (STEDT).


莊

/ʈ͡ʂu̯ɑ̃ɻ⁵⁵/

/t͡szʷæ̃³³⁴/

/ʈ͡ʂu̯ɑ̃ɻ⁵⁵/

/t͡szʷæ̃³³⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsraŋ): semantic 艸 + phonetic 壯 (OC *ʔsraŋs).

Han compound

莊存與

庄存与


種

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tjoŋʔ, *tjoŋs): semantic 禾 + phonetic 重 (OC *doŋ, *doŋʔ, *doŋs).
Perhaps Sino-Tibetan: Chepang [script needed] (tuŋʔ-, “to plant”), दुङ् (duŋ, “shoot; sprout”), दुङ्सा (duŋ-, “to sprout; to grow”). Compare 腫 (OC *tjoŋʔ, “to swell”) and 踵 (OC *tjoŋʔ, “heel”).
Related to Proto-Vietic *k-coːŋʔ (“seed”) (Vietnamese giống (“seed”)), which is likely a loanword from Chinese (Wang, 1948).
Pronunciation 2 (“to sow; to plant”) is the exoactive derivation of pronunciation 1 (“seed”).

cog

种
穜
𥡰
𥢖
𥻝
𦔉
𥠭


種

种
穜
𥡰
𥢖
𥻝
𦔉
𥠭


蔣

→ English: Chiang, Jiang

→ Tagalog: Chiong

/t͡ɕi̯ɑŋ²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɑŋ²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsaŋ, *ʔsaŋʔ): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 將 (OC *ʔsaŋ, *ʔsaŋs).

Han compound

蔣介石

蒋介石


艾

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːds, *ŋads): semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 乂 (OC *ŋads).


菅

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kroːn): semantic 艹 + phonetic 官 (OC *koːn) – a type of grass.


薊

Han char

薊 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+13, 19 strokes, cangjie input 廿弓火弓 (TNFN), four-corner 4432₀, composition ⿱艹魝)


胡

→ English: Hu, Hoo, Wu, Woo, Oh

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaː): phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ) + semantic ⺼.
; "dewlap"
; "steppe nomads"
; interrogative word ("what; why; how")

阿胡拉·馬茲達

Āhúlā Mǎzīdá

阿胡拉·马兹达

Āhúlā Mǎzīdá

Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China

Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong

Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002 to 2012

胡錦濤

胡锦涛


蕭

→ English: Hsiao, Xiao, Siu

蕭颯

萧飒


蒲

→ Tangut: 𘀔 (*phu¹)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *baː): semantic 艹 (“vegetation”) + phonetic 浦 (OC *pʰaːʔ).

Han compound

蒲松齡

蒲松龄


茗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *meːŋʔ): semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 名 (OC *meŋ).
A late word; earliest extant attestation is in Shuowen Jiezi (c. C.E. 100).
Likely from Austroasiatic. Compare Palaungic မျံမ် (miəm), Danau miːn², Lamet mɪːŋ, Mlabri miʌŋ, Mal mhiaŋ, Nyah Kur mìəm, Thai เมี่ยง (mîiang), Northern Thai ᩉ᩠ᨾᩮᩥ᩠᩶ᨿᨦ, Lao ໝ້ຽງ (mīang).


葵

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷil): semantic 艹 (“grass, plant”) + phonetic 癸 (OC *kʷilʔ) – a kind of plant.


荷

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰaːls, *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 何 (OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ).
Possibly related to Burmese ကြာ (kra, “water lily”).