xùn

inquire

Depicts a mouth () interrogating a captured prisoner of war (). also represents the sound. The (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as (speech).

Components
言 iconic component

  Iconic component

yán

  

speech

Originally (mouth). Later reanalyzed as (speech).

卂 sound,iconic component

  Sound Iconic component

xùn

  

to fly rapidly

Depicts a captive prisoner with their hands tied behind their back.

Evolution

訊 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
訊 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
訊 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
訊 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
訊 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

xùn

inquire; ask; examine; reproach; to question; to ask; to interrogate; rapid; speedy; fast; news; information

Most common words with 訊
Freq.
Word
Meaning

to ask

通讯

communications

审讯

inquest

通讯员

correspondent

讯息

news

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[s]i[n]-s

sinH

xùn

ask


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 20.2627% of movies

1353rd most common character in movies

1238th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

10

Simplified

Unicode

U+8A0A

Shuowen

“訊,問也。从言,卂聲。,古文訊从卥。”


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