Definitions

tiáo bangs, children's hairstyle; youngster

Etymology phono-semantic

hair

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character is a phono-semantic compound: the upper component (flowing hair) gives the meaning, and the lower the sound. It originally described a traditional children's hairstyle in ancient China, with hair left hanging in unpinned tufts or fringes. Over time, it became a metonym for early childhood, most notably in the poetic compound 髫年, which refers to the years of youth or infancy.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern