倒吊蜡烛
dào​diào​là​zhú

dyer's oleander

倒 dào, dǎo fall over

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

到
到 Sound component
dào, dao go to

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttawXtˤawʔ turn upside down (v.i.)
tawHtˤawʔ-s turn over, invert; pour

說文解字

《說文新附》：“倒，仆也。从人，到聲。”

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)

吊 diào to hang

Original meaning: silk streamers used for arrows

Variant of 弔. Depicts a person carrying silk streamers used for wrapping around arrows with. Based on the original meaning "silk streamers used for arrows", now written as 繳. The meaning later shifted to "to hang" and "to hang a person".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts silk streamers used for wrapping around arrows with.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

铞屌

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

屌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttewHtˤ[e]wk-sgrieved; condole
Zhengzhangtiːwɢs

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.639-640黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.838-839漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

蜡 là wax Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蠟.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
昔
昔 Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzraːɡs
sʰaːɡs

說文解字

蠅䏣也。《周禮》：“蜡氏掌除骴。”从虫昔聲。

Sources

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

烛 zhú candle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 虫 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燭.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
虫
虫 Sound component
chóng bug, insect

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蠟 là wax Traditional

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

巤
巤 Sound component
liè whiskers

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlapk.rˤap (no pre-Qín exx.)wax
Zhengzhangraːb
Unicodelɑp

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

燭 zhú candle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
蜀
蜀 Sound component
shǔ short name for Sichuan

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyowktoktorch
Zhengzhangtjoɡ
Unicodejiok

說文解字

庭燎，火燭也。从火蜀聲。

Sources

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