勾肩搭背
gōu​jiān​dā​bèi

arm-in-arm

勾 gōu hook

勾 originated as a variant of 句. 口 represents the sound and 丩 represents the meaning and the sound.

Components

丩
丩 SoundMeaning component
jiū join
口
口 Sound component
kǒu, kou mouth
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 口 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

构购沟钩鈎

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

钩鈎

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[k]ˤ(r)ocurved
kuwH[k]ˤ(r)ok-sloan for 彀 draw a bow to the full
Zhengzhangkoː
koːs

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

肩 jiān shoulder

Originally a pictograph of a shoulder. Later the ⺼ (flesh) component was added.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a shoulder. Unrelated to 户.

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

掮

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

掮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartken[k]ˤe[n] shoulder (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“，髆也。从肉，象形。肩，俗肩从戶。”

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)

搭 dā join together

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 荅 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

荅
荅 Sound component
dā, dá, tà small bean

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtuːb
tʰoːb

Sources

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

背 bèi, bēi back

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

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

北
北 SoundMeaning component
běi north

北 also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

褙揹

Meaning (1)

揹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbwojHm-pˤək-s turn the back on
pwojHpˤək-s the back

說文解字

《說文》：“背，也。从肉，北聲。”

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)