亏缺 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

kuīquē

shortfall

kuī deficit, lose Simplified

Original meaning: wind instrument

Originally the same character as 于, depicting a musical wind instrument with a reed, which is now written as 竽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

夸肟虧圬𠌶

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“于，於也。象气之舒于。从丂，从一。一者，其气平之也。”

Sources

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

quē be short of, lack

Original meaning: damaged object

Phonosemantic compound. 缶 represents the meaning and 夬 represents the sound.

Components

缶 Meaning component

fǒu pottery

Change in meaning

缶 hints at the original meaning of 缺, "damaged object", which is no longer the most common meaning of 缺 in modern Mandarin.

夬 Sound component

guài, jué parted

Change in sound

缺 and 夬 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
缺 *Nə-[k]ʷʰˤet
夬 *[k]ʷˤret-s

Character Evolution

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

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khwet	Nə-[k]ʷʰˤet	break; defective

說文解字

《說文》：“缺，器破也。从缶，決省聲。”

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)

kuī deficit, lose Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 雐 represents the sound and 亏 represents the meaning.

Components

雐 Sound component

hū a type of bird

亏 Sound Meaning component

kuī deficit, lose

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khjwe	[k]ʷʰ(r)aj	diminish

說文解字

《說文》：“虧，气損也。从亏，雐聲。，虧或从兮。”

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)