āo​cáo

groove

āo concave

Pictograph of a concavity. Opposite of .

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqriːw
qriːb

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

cáo trough

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tree
Sound component
cáo plaintiff and defendant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsluː
zluː

說文解字

畜獸之食器。从木曹聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica