Dong Chinese dictionary

qiān

drag

Depicts a person (人) leading an ox (牛) by the nose (自). The 人 and 自 components were later corrupted into phonetic 玄.

Components

玄 Sound component

xuán

deep

自 Iconic component

zì

self

Depicts a nose.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 自 than it was in ancient scripts.

牛 Iconic component

niú

cow

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

qiān

drag, pull, lead by hand; to lead along; to pull (an animal on a tether); (bound form) to involve; to draw in

Most common words with 牽

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sources

季旭昇《說文新證》p.93-94

林志強《《文源》評注》p.312