覃
QíntánTán

reach to

Original meaning: salt

Depicts a jug (𣆪) filled with salt (鹵), now written as 鹽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

鹵
鹵 Iconic component
salt

Modern form looks like unrelated 覀.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 鹵 than it was in ancient scripts.
𣆪
𣆪 Iconic component
hòu a type of container

Modern form looks like unrelated 早.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𣆪 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

谭潭簟蕈镡罈譚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdomN.rˤ[o]m extend, spread
yemXN-r[a]mʔ pointed, sharp

說文解字

《說文》：“，長味也。从，鹹省聲。《詩》曰：‘實覃實吁。’，古文覃。，篆文覃省。”

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)