Chinese Character Wiki
原

yuán

source

Depicts water coming from a spring (泉) on a cliff (厂).

Components
厂 iconic component

厂  Iconic component

hǎn, chǎng

  

cliff, (roof)

泉 sound,iconic component

泉  Sound Iconic component

quán

  

spring

Evolution

原 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

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

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
原 Clerical script Wu (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Wu (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
原 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

原  

yuán

source, origin, beginning; former; original; primary; raw; level; cause; source

原  

Yuán

Hara (Japanese surname)

Most common words with 原
Freq.
Word
Meaning

原因

cause

原来

original

原

former

原谅

to excuse

原则

principle

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (1 verified)

源

Sound component in 5 characters (3 verified)

愿 願 源 螈 塬

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*N-ɢʷar

ngjwon

yuán

spring, source; origin

*N-ɢʷar

ngjwon

yuán

high plain (n.)


Statistics

HSK level 6

Appears in 89.1719% of movies

346th most common character in movies

193rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

10

Unicode

U+539F

Shuowen

“，水泉本也。从灥出厂下。原，篆文从泉。”


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