刘德华
Liú Dé​huá

Andy Lau

刘 liú surname Simplified

Original meaning: type of battle axe

Simplified form of 劉. Phonosemantic compound. 卯 represents the sound and 金 and 刂 represent the meaning. Based on the original meaning "battle-axe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

文
文 Simplified component
wén writing

Shorthand for the left side of the traditional character 劉.

刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Change in meaning
刂 hints at the original meaning of 刘, "type of battle axe", which is no longer the most common meaning of 刘 in modern Mandarin.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

浏

Sources

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

德 dé virtue

Originally written as 惪, depicting a straight (直) heart (心). The 彳 (walk) component was added later.

Components

彳
彳 Meaning component
chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

惪
惪 SoundMeaning component
dé virtue

Original form of 德.

Character Evolution

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 Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttoktˤək virtue

說文解字

《說文》：“德，升也。从彳，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)

华 huá magnificent Simplified

Simplified form of 華. 化 is used here to represent the sound. The bottom component is a remnant from the traditional character 華.

Components

化
化 Sound component
huà change
華
華 SimplifiedRemnant component
huá magnificent

Remnant from the bottom of the traditional character 華.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

哗桦烨骅铧

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

晔烨

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.554-555
Readings & variants
Unicode

劉 surname Traditional

Original meaning: type of battle axe

Phonosemantic compound. 卯 represents the sound and 金 and 刂 represent the meaning. Based on the original meaning "battle-axe". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

卯
卯 Sound component
mǎo 4th terrestrial branch
Change in sound
金
金 Meaning component
jīn metal
Change in meaning
金 hints at the original meaning of 劉, "type of battle axe", which is no longer the most common meaning of 劉 in modern Mandarin.
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Change in meaning
刂 hints at the original meaning of 劉, "type of battle axe", which is no longer the most common meaning of 劉 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

瀏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljuwmə-ru kill; surname

Sources

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

華 huá magnificent Traditional

Original meaning: flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 𠌶 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flower", now written as 花. The meaning later shifted to "blossoming", "flourishing" and "magnificent".

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

𠌶
𠌶 SoundMeaning component
huā flower

Pictograph of a fully bloomed flower.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠌶 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

驊樺嘩

Simplified (1)

华

Remnant (1)

华

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

曄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)
hwaeN-qʷʰˤra flower (v.); flowery (adj.)
hwaeH[ɢ]ʷˤra-s [name of a mountain]

說文解字

榮也。从艸从𠌶。凡華之屬皆从華。

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.554-555
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)