中括号
zhōng​kuò​hào

square brackets

中 zhōng, zhòng central

Depicts a flagpole. There is a circle in the middle marking the center of the flagpole. In older forms of the character, the flagpole has streamers at the top and bottom used to show the direction of the wind.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 11 verified)

种冲钟忠仲肿衷忡盅舯沖

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

仲衷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttrjuwngtruŋ center
trjuwngHtruŋ-s hit the center

說文解字

《說文》：“中，內也。从口、丨，上下通。，古文中。，籀文中。”

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)

括 kuò include, enclose

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

𠯑
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

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkoːd

說文解字

《說文》：“，絜也。从手，聲。”

Sources

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

号 hào, hao, háo call, mark Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 丂 represents the sound. Simplified form of 號.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
丂
丂 Sound component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

枵鸮號鴞

Meaning (1)

號

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthawH[g]ˤaw-s command, call (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“号，痛聲也。从口，在丂上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.393
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

號 hào, hao, háo call, mark Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虎 represents the meaning and 号 represents the sound.

Components

虎
虎 Meaning component
hǔ, hu tiger

Alludes to the meaning "roar".

号
号 SoundMeaning component
hào, hao, háo call, mark

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

饕

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthaw[C.g]ˤaw call out
hawHCə.[g]ˤaw-s command, call (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“號，呼也。从号，从虎。”

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)