劈叉
pǐ​chà

splits

劈 pī cut apart

Phonosemantic compound. 刀 represents the meaning and 辟 represents the sound.

Components

刀
刀 Meaning component
dāo knife
辟
辟 Sound component
pì, bì law

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰeːɡ
Unicodepek

說文解字

破也。从刀辟聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

叉 chā, chá, chǎ fork, prong

Depicts an object being held between fingers in the hand (又).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts something being held in the hand.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

钗蚤杈衩汊釵

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

钗杈汊釵

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰraːl
sʰreːl

說文解字

《說文》：“叉，手指相錯也。从又，象叉之形。”

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)