萬 (U+842C)
| Shang | Shang (Shi-Bin) | Shang (Bin) | Early W.Zhou | Middle W.Zhou | Late W.Zhou | Qin | Qin | Han | W.Jin | Tang | Ming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 集6680 [蠆] | 合9812 [蠆] | 英150正 | 集3745 | 集4252.1 | 集4555 | 璽彙4493 | 里耶8-552 | 敦176 | 晉祀后土碑 | 五經文字 | 明0399X |
{一萬} *ʔit tV.ma[r]s “one myriad” → {萬} *tV.ma[r]s “myriad”
Initially the word {萬} was written phonetically with a glyph created for the word {蠆} *məC̥.rˤats “scorpion” (depiction of a scorpion) (cf. its usage as ♪萬 *RAT in e.g. 厲 for {礪} *[r]ats “whetstone”). The glyph 一 “one” was added to represent the compound {一萬}, giving the ligature 萬. Later this ligature began to be used for the morpheme {萬} itself.
- 張秉權 1975 - 甲骨文中所見的「數」
Forms:
万 - Shortening based on the early cursive form. Modern simplified form in China and Japan.