侏儒
zhū​rú

dwarf

侏 zhū, zhōu small

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 朱 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

朱
朱 Sound component
zhū, shū red pigment

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuto侏儒 zhūrú "dwarf"
Zhengzhangtjo

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

儒 rú Confucian scholar

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 需 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

需
需 Sound component
xū need

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuno侏儒 zhūrú "dwarf", scholar, Confucianism<br><small>(not in original list)</small>
Zhengzhangnjo
Unicodenjio
njio

說文解字

柔也。術士之偁。从人需聲。

Sources

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