匹偶
pǐ'ǒu

married couple

匹 pǐ bolt of cloth

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a folded piece of cloth.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartphjitpʰi[t] one of a pair

說文解字

《說文》：“匹，四丈也。从八、匸，八揲一匹，八亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫古今文字集成
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

偶 ǒu pair, accidental

Original meaning: idol

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 禺 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

禺
禺 Sound component
yú, yù, ǒu district

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnguwXŋˤ(r)oʔ pair, double

說文解字

《說文》：“偶，桐人也。从人，禺聲。”

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)