劣汰 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

liètài

elimination

liè bad

Phonosemantic compound. 少 represents the meaning and 力 represents the sound.

Components

少 Meaning component

shǎo, shao, shào few

力 Sound component

lì, li power

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		rod
Unicode	liuɛt

說文解字

弱也。从力少聲。

Sources

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

tài excessive

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 太 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

太 Sound component

tài, tai very

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dajH	lˤa[t]-s	wave
Zhengzhang		tʰaːds
Unicode	tɑ̀i

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang