examine into

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
lì, li power
Sound component
hài, jiē 12th terrestrial branch

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthojH[ɡ]ˤək-sinvestigate
hok[ɡ]ˤəkinvestigate, try (a criminal)
Zhengzhangɡɯːɡs
kʰrɯːɡs
ɡɯːɡ
Unicodehək

說文解字

法有辠也。从力亥聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica