婆娑
pó​suō

sway

婆 pó, po mother-in-law

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 波 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
波
波 Sound component
bō waves

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartba[b]ˤa[j] 婆娑 saunter, dance

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

娑 suō, suǒ, suò dance

Components

沙
沙 Sound component
shā sand
女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman

woman

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsa[s]ˤa[j]婆娑 saunter, dance
Zhengzhangsaːl
saːlʔ
Unicodesɑ

說文解字

舞也。从女沙聲。《詩》曰：“市也媻娑。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)