Definitions

yǐng Ying, ancient capital of Chu 楚 in Hubei, Jianling county 江陵縣|江陵县

Etymology phono-semantic

place

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character "郢" is a phono-semantic compound formed from the radical "阝", which denotes a city or geographical location, and the phonetic component "呈", which historically indicated its pronunciation related to the capital of the ancient Chu state. Its meaning has remained specifically tied to that place-name without acquiring broader semantic applications, and the structural composition of these two elements has persisted in its orthographic representation.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Warring States (475-221 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern