尃
fū

state, announce

Original meaning: scatter

Depicts a hand (寸) scattering crops in a garden (甫). 甫 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "scatter". The meaning later shifted to "announce".

Components

甫
甫 SoundIconic component
fu begin

Depicts something sprouting (屮) from a field (田), depicting a garden or orchard.

寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Change in meaning
寸 hints at the original meaning of 尃, "scatter", which is no longer the most common meaning of 尃 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

博傅搏膊缚溥赙镈縛鎛愽

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰa

說文解字

《說文》：“尃，布也。从寸，甫聲。”

Sources

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