凄苦
qī​kǔ

miserable

凄 qī bitter cold Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 冫 represents the meaning and 妻 represents the sound. Simplified form of 淒.

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

冫 is a component form of 冰.

妻
妻 Sound component
qī wife

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰiːl
Unicodetsei
tsei

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

苦 kǔ bitter

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

楛

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

楛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhuXkʰˤaʔ bitter

說文解字

大苦，苓也。从艸古聲。

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)

悽 qī, qì sorrowful Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 妻 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

妻
妻 Sound component
qī wife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰiːl
Unicodetsei

說文解字

痛也。从心妻聲。

Sources

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