僧俗
sēng​sú

monks and laity

僧 sēng, céng Buddhist priest

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

曾
曾 Sound component
céng already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsɯːŋ
Unicodesəng
səng

說文解字

浮屠道人也。从人曾聲。

Sources

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

俗 sú social customs

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

谷
谷 Sound component
gǔ valley, ravine

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjowks-[ɢ]ok ways, customs; vulgar

說文解字

《說文》：“俗，習也。从人，谷聲。”

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)