乡村奶酪
xiāng​cūn​nǎi​lào

cottage cheese

乡 xiāng hometown Simplified

Simplified form of 鄉. Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown". The right two components were removed for simplification.

Components

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing right.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.
鄉
飠 Deleted component
eat
鄉
卩 Deleted component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing left.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

飨芗

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

芗

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

村 cūn village

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 寸 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
寸
寸 Sound component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰuːn
Unicodetsuən

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

奶 nǎi, nai milk

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

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
乃
乃 SoundIconic component
nǎi then

Depicts a woman standing sideways with her breasts protruding.

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrneːlʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

酪 lào, luò, lù cream

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

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
各
各 Sound component
gè each

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raːɡ

說文解字

乳𤖅也。从酉各聲。

Sources

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

鄉 xiāng hometown Traditional

Original meaning: feast, offer food

Pictograph of two people facing each other, kneeling down to share a meal. Based on the original meaning "feast" or "offer food", now written as 饗. The meaning later shifted to "hometown".

Components

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing right.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.
飠
飠 Iconic component
eat
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person facing left.

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

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

響嚮薌饗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjangqʰaŋ village; district
xjangXqʰaŋʔ feast
xjangHqʰaŋ-s to face

Sources

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