Chinese Characters

昆

PINYIN

kūn

Main meanings:

①offspring.

②elder brother.

HSK - 6

STROKES - 8

RADICAL - 日

Elements ---- Sun 日 + two people比. Phonetic series 昆.

Two (many) people 比under the sun日, first meaning confuse, mix, later many > offspring > multitude > insects (that usually appear in swarms). Between two brothers 比 (the use of this component implies a comparison) one is the older.

Main Words:

昆虫 kūnchóng insect (offspring + insect)
后昆 hòukūn descendants
昆季 kūnjì brothers
昆仑 Kūnlún Kunlun Mountains

昆明 Kūnmíng Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province

Wang shows an OBC that is a drawing of two insects. WEi shows a Bronze pictogram of a kind of insect with a big head and two long legs. The head changed later to the sun image and the two legs were turned in two men. Gao has a good depiction of the historical uses of this character.

Gao Jingcheng (高景成). Diccionario del origen de los caracteres más comunes. (常用字字源字典). Language Publishers. Beijing. 2013.
Wang Benxing (王本兴). Diccionario de los caracteres oraculares (甲骨文字典). Editorial de Beijing de las Artesanías y el Arte. Beijing. 2010.
Wei Li, Liu Zhiji y Chen Jiang (魏励，刘志基，陈健). Dictionary of the Oracle, Bronze, Seal and Slave Characters (甲金篆隶字典). The Commercial Press. Beijing. 2013. (WL)

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