líng​xiāo​huā

trumpet vine

líng, lìng pure

Components

Meaning component
bīng ice

ice

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

xiāo, xiào sky

To look like  rain  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
rain
SoundMeaning component
xiào look like

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjew[s]ewsleet
Zhengzhangsew
Unicodesiɛu

說文解字

雨䨘爲霄。从雨肖聲。齊語也。

Sources

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

huā, hua flower

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
huà change

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)

Sources

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