刮脸
guā​liǎn

shave

刮 guā to scrape, shave

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠯑 than it was in ancient scripts.
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwaet[kʷˤ]r[a]t scrape (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“刮，掊把也。从刀，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)

脸 liǎn face Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 臉.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

佥
佥 Sound component
qiān together

Sources

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

臉 liǎn face Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 僉 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

僉
僉 Sound component
together

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·reːmʔ
skʰlam
kramʔ
Unicodelæ̌m

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang