Shang
/ʃɑːŋ/noun
A member of the ancient Chinese dynasty traditionally dated to approximately 1600–1046 BCE, or a reference to that dynasty.
Did you know?Shang diviners heated animal bones and turtle shells until they cracked, then interpreted the fractures as messages from ancestors and gods.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Sinitic / Early Chinese writing
Chinese
商
“The graph later read shāng; its earliest exact pictorial meaning remains debated.”
c. 1600–1046 BCE
Old Chinese
商
“The name of the Shang royal house and its political realm.”
c. 1200 BCE
Oracle Chinese
商
“Appears in oracle-bone inscriptions associated with royal divination and ancestral ritual.”
6th–10th Century CE
Middle Chinese
商 *syang
“The historical pronunciation represented in medieval Chinese rhyme traditions.”
Modern Mandarin
Mandarin
Shāng
“The name of the Shang dynasty; the same character also means commerce or trade in other contexts.”
19th–20th Century
English
Shang
“An English historical and archaeological term for the ancient Chinese dynasty.”
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