侦查
zhēn​chá

investigate

侦 zhēn spy Simplified

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

person

贞
贞 Sound component
zhēn, zhēng virtuous

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

查 chá investigate

Original meaning: hawthorn tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hawthorn tree", now written as 柤. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
且
且 Sound component
qiě moreover
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 且 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

渣喳碴楂馇揸猹齄

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsraː
zraː
zraː

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

偵 zhēn spy Traditional

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

person

貞
貞 Sound component
virtuous

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrtaːŋs
tʰeŋ
tʰeŋs

說文解字

問也。从人貞聲。

Sources

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