更 - Dong Chinese dictionary

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繁體

pīnyīn

ㄅㄆㄇㄈ

gèng, gēng

more

Original meaning:

continue; succession

Depicts using a whip (攴) to control a succession of chariots (丙). 丙 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "continue; succession". The meaning later shifted to "further" and "more".

Components

攴 Iconic component

pū

tap

Depicts a hand holding a whip.

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

丙 Sound Iconic component

bǐng

third

Used here to depict a chariot.

更 and 丙 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.更 /*kˤraŋ/, /*kˤraŋ-s/
丙 /*praŋʔ/

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

Evolution

更 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

更 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

更 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

更 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

gèng

more, still further, much more; more; even more; further; still; still more

gēng

to change or replace; to experience; one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided; watch (e.g. of a sentry or guard)

Most common words with 更

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	更	more
	更加	even more
	更新	to renew
	更为	even more
	更换	to replace (a worn-out tire etc)

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (1 verified)

Sound component in 8 characters (1 verified)

硬梗哽埂粳鲠绠筻

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese	Middle Chinese	Pinyin	Gloss
*kˤraŋ	kaeng	gēng	change (v.)
*kˤraŋ-s	kaengH	gèng	still more

Statistics

HSK level 2

Appears in 95.9635% of movies

231st most common character in movies

221st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes	7
Unicode	U+66F4
Shuowen	“，改也。从攴，丙聲。”

Sources

Academia Sinica

Make Me a Hanzi

MTSU Chinese text computing

漢語多功能字庫

季旭昇《說文新證》 p.241

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