凤蝶
fèng​dié

swallowtail

凤 fèng male phoenix Simplified

Simplified form of 鳳. Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 鳥 component in the traditional character 鳳.

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

蝶 dié butterfly

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 枼 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蜨.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
枼
枼 Sound component
yè leaf

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdeplˤephu-dep: butterfly
Zhengzhangl̥ʰeːb
l'eːb
Unicodetep
dhep

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

鳳 fèng male phoenix Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Remnant (1)

風

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbums
Unicodebhiùng

說文解字

《說文》：“鳳，神鳥也。天老曰：鳳之象也，鴻前麐後，蛇頸魚尾，鸛顙鴛思，龍文虎背，燕頷雞喙，五色備舉。出於東方君子之國，翺翔四海之外，過崐崘，飲砥柱，濯羽弱水，莫宿風穴，見則天下大安寧。从鳥，凡聲。，古文鳳，象形。鳳飛羣鳥從以萬數，故以為朋黨字。，亦古文鳳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)