丑话说在前头 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly Simplified

Depicts of a hand or paw with fingernails or claws. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. In simplified Chinese 丑 is also used to mean "ugly", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 醜.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	trhjuwX	[n̥]ruʔ	2d earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》：“丑，紐也。十二月，萬物動，用事。象手之形。時加丑，亦舉手時也。”

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)

huà, hua speech Simplified

Simplified form of 話. Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

𠯑 Sound component

guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like 舌.

Change in form

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

Sources

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

shuō speak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

zài be at

Composed of 才 and 士, which both represent the sound.

Components

才 Sound component

cái, cai talent

士 Sound component

shì, shi scholar, soldier

Modern form looks like 土, but is unrelated.

Change in sound

在 and 士 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
在 dzojX
士 dzriX

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

茬

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzojX	[dz]ˤəʔ	be at, be present

說文解字

《說文》：“在，存也。从土，才聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.908
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

qián in front

Original meaning: cut

Phonosemantic compound. 歬 represents the sound, and 刂 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "cut", now written as 剪. The current meaning "in front" is a phonetic loan.

Components

歬 Sound component

qián go forward

Change in form

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

刂 Meaning component

dāo knife

Change in meaning

刂 hints at the original meaning of 前, "cut", which is no longer the most common meaning of 前 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

箭剪煎翦湔

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzen	[dz]ˤen (~ *m-dzˤen)	before

說文解字

《說文》：“歬，不行而進謂之歬。从止在舟上。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫 The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆 Sound Simplified component

dòu bean

頁 Iconic Simplified component

yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

clown Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 酉 represents the sound.

Components

酉 Sound component

yǒu wine

鬼 Meaning component

guǐ ghost

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsyhuwX	t.qʰuʔ	ugly; evil
	tsyhuwX	t.qʰuʔ	category

說文解字

可惡也。从鬼酉聲。

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)

huà, hua speech Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

𠯑 Sound component

guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like 舌.

Change in form

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwaejH	[g]ʷˤrat-s	speak; words

說文解字

《說文》：“，合會善言也。从言，聲。《傳》曰：‘告之話言。’譮，籀文从會。”

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)

shuō speak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁 Iconic component

yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆 Sound component

dòu bean

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	duw	[m-t]ˤo	head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)

丑 chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly Simplified

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

Iconic (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

话 huà, hua speech Simplified

Components

Sources

说 shuō speak Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

在 zài be at

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

前 qián in front

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Components

Component uses

Simplified (2)

Sources

醜 clown Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

話 huà, hua speech Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly Simplified

huà, hua speech Simplified

shuō speak Simplified

zài be at

qián in front

tóu, tou head Simplified

clown Traditional

huà, hua speech Traditional

shuō speak Traditional

tóu, tou head Traditional