yuè

cutting off feet as form of punishment

Originally a pictograph of a saw cutting off a person's foot. Later the character was changed to a phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
yuè, yue moon
Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngwaet[ŋ]ʷˤ<r>at amputate a foot

說文解字

《說文》:“刖,絕也。从刀,月聲。”

Sources

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