zhēng, zhǐ
invade
Original meaning:
to punish
Originally written as 𱖔, which depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back. The components 彳 (walk) and 攵 (tap) were added later to indicate movement and action. Based on the original meaning "to punish". The meaning later shifted to "invade", "to summon" and "to recruit" while its other meaning used as a musical note is a phonetic loan.
Components
Evolution

Oracle script
(~1250-1000 BC)
Bronze script
Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical script
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)Regular script
ModernDefinitions
Most common words with 徵
Freq. | Word | Meaning |
---|---|---|
see also 徵|征[zhēng] | ||
pre-Tang names of the five notes of the pentatonic scale, corresponding roughly to do, re, mi, sol, la | ||
modified fifth note of the pentatonic scale |
Component uses
Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)
Sources