zēng

increase

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
土 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

earth

曾 sound component

  Sound component

céngzēng

  

already

Evolution

增 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
增 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
增 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
增 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

zēng

increase, add to, augment; to increase; to expand; to add

Most common words with 增
Freq.
Word
Meaning

增加

to raise

增长

to grow

增强

to increase

to add

增援

to reinforce