企鹅
qǐ'é

penguin

企 qǐ plan a project, stand on tiptoe

Depicts a person (人) standing on their feet (止).

Components

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjieXkʰeʔ stand on tiptoe
khjieHkʰeʔ-s stand on tiptoe

說文解字

《說文》：“企，舉踵也。从人，止聲。，古文企从足。”

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)

鹅 é goose Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鵝.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
我
我 Sound component
wǒ I; me

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鵝 é goose Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 我 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
我
我 Sound component
wǒ I; me

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngaŋˤa[r]goose
Zhengzhangŋaːl
Unicodengɑ

Sources

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