凌波舞
líng​bō​wǔ

limbo

凌 líng, lìng pure

Components

冫
冫 Meaning component
bīng ice

ice

夌
夌 Sound component
líng to surpass, to ascend

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartling[r]əŋtransgress; attack
lingp.rəŋice
Zhengzhangrɯŋ
Unicodeliəng

Sources

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

波 bō waves

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

皮
皮 Sound component
pí skin
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

婆啵菠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

啵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpapˤaj wave (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“波，水涌流也。从水，皮聲。”

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)

舞 wǔ dance

Originally written as 無, which is a pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. The 舛 (two feet) component was later added to emphasize the action of dancing after 無 was phonetically borrowed for different meanings.

Components

舛
舛 Iconic component
chuǎn oppose

Depicts two feet.

無
無 SoundIconicRemnant component
wú negative

Depicts a person dancing with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuXk.m(r)aʔ dance (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“舞，樂也。用足相背。从舛，舞聲。，古文舞从羽、亡。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.472林志強《《文源》評注》p.203
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)