rǔ​mí​xiè

celiac disease

breast, milk

Depicts a mother holding () a child () breastfeeding it.

Components

Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

is a component form of . Depicts a hand.

Iconic component
zi, zǐ child
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a mother breastfeeding.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyuXnoʔ milk; nipple

說文解字

《說文》:“乳,人及鳥生子曰乳,獸曰產。从孚,从乙。乙者,玄鳥也。《明堂》、《月令》:‘玄鳥至之日,祠于高禖以請子。’故乳从乙。請子必以乙至之日者,乙春分來,秋分去,開生之候鳥,帝少昊司分之官也。”

Sources

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

mí, méi rice gruel

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rice
Sound component
má, ma hemp

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjeC.m(r)ajrice gruel; destroy, crush
Zhengzhangmral
Unicodemyɛ

說文解字

糝也。从米麻聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiè drain off Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
xiě write

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

drain off Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
xiě write

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjæXs-qʰAʔto drain off
Zhengzhangsjaːʔ
sjaːɡs
Unicodesiǎ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang