刺苋
cì​xiàn

prickly amaranth

刺 cì stab

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound.

Components

朿
朿 SoundIconic component
cì thorn, stab

Pictograph of a thorned weapon or plant.

刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

莿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshjeH[tsʰ]ek-s sharp point, thorn
tshjek[tsʰ]ek pierce, stab

說文解字

《說文》：“刺，君殺大夫曰刺。刺，直傷也。从刀，从朿，朿亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

苋 xiàn, wàn Chinese spinach Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 见 represents the sound. Simplified form of 莧.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

见
见 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Component uses

Simplified (1)

宽

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

莧 Chinese spinach Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 見 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

見
見 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡreːns

說文解字

《說文》：“莧，莧菜也。从艸，見聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)