mào​mèi HSK7

take the liberty

mào risk

Original meaning: hat

Pictograph of a hat over an eye. Based on the original meaning "hat". The meaning later shifted to "cover", "feign", "offend", and "risk".

Components

Iconic component
mào cap
Iconic component
eye

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmawHmˤuk-s to look down on; covetous
mawHmˤuk-s covering

說文解字

《說文》:“冒,冡而前也。从冃,从目。,古文冒。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

mèi obscure

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
sun
Sound component
wèi not yet

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojHmˤ[u][t]-sdusk; dark
Zhengzhangmɯːds
Unicodemə̀i

說文解字

爽,旦明也。从日未聲。一曰闇也。

Sources

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