云朵
yún​duǒ

cloud

云 yún clouds Simplified

Depicts a swirl of clouds up (上) in the sky.

Components

上
上 Meaning component
shàng, shang up
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 上 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a swirl of clouds.

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

Component uses

Sound (6 of 14 verified)

运魂坛旬匀芸酝耘纭陰雲紜勻侌

Simplified (3)

动层尝

Meaning (2 of 3 verified)

陰雲侌

Iconic (1)

昙

Unknown (1)

藝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjun[ɢ]ʷə[r] say

說文解字

《說文》：“雲，山川气也。从雨，云象雲回轉形。云，古文省雨。云說文古文;2，亦古文雲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.819
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

朵 duo, duǒ flower

Original meaning: drooping ear of a grain

Embellishment of the character 禾 (grain), with a distinguishing short stroke on the ear of the millet plant to indicate the drooping ear. Based on the original meaning "drooping ear of a grain". The meaning later shifted to "flower" and "earlobe".

Components

丿
丿 Distinguishing component
piě, yì line

Here used as a distinguishing short stroke to indicate the drooping ear of a millet plant.

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 禾 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

躲跺垛剁哚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtoːlʔ
Unicodeduɑ̌

說文解字

《說文》：“朵，樹木垂朵朵也。从木，象形。此與采同意。”

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)

雲 clouds Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 雨 represents the meaning and 云 represents the sound.

Components

雨
雨 Meaning component
yǔ rain
云
云 SoundMeaning component
yún clouds

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 Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

蕓

Iconic (1)

曇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjun[ɢ]ʷə[n] cloud

說文解字

《說文》：“雲，山川气也。从雨，云象雲回轉形。云，古文省雨。云說文古文;2，亦古文雲。”

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)