Chinese Character Wiki
元

yuán

first

Pictograph of a person with a line added at the head area, representing the meaning the meaning "head" or "first".

Evolution

元 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
元 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
元 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
元 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
元 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

元  

yuán

first; dollar; origin; head; currency unit (esp. Chinese yuan); original; primary; fundamental; constituent; part; era (of a reign); meta- (prefix); (math.) argument; variable; (Tw) (geology) eon

元  

Yuán

surname Yuan; the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (1279-1368)

Most common words with 元
Freq.
Word
Meaning

元

first

美元

US dollar

元素

element

欧元

euro (currency)

元首

head of state

Component uses

Sound component in 16 characters (7 verified)

完 远 园 玩 翫 冠 髡 顽 頑 阮 沅 鼋 黿 芫 朊 蚖

Iconic component in 3 characters (3 verified)

失 冠 寇

Remnant component in 1 character (1 verified)

髡

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[ŋ]o[r] (< nasal + uvular)

ngjwon

yuán

head; first


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 43.9853% of movies

702nd most common character in movies

370th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+5143

Shuowen

“元，始也。从一，从兀。”


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