华容道 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

huá magnificent Simplified

Simplified form of 華. 化 is used here to represent the sound. The bottom component is a remnant from the traditional character 華.

Components

化 Sound component

huà change

華 Simplified Remnant component

huá magnificent

Remnant from the bottom of the traditional character 華.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

哗桦烨骅铧

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

晔烨

Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.554-555
Readings & variants: Unicode

róng contain; appearance

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 公 represents the sound.

Components

宀 Meaning component

mián roof

公 Sound component

gōng public

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 公 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

溶蓉镕榕鎔

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

熔镕鎔

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	yowng	[ɢ](r)oŋ	contain
	yowng	[ɢ](r)oŋ	appearance

說文解字

《說文》：“容，盛也。从宀、谷。，古文容从公。”

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)

dào, dao path

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 首 represents the sound.

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

首 Sound component

shǒu head

Change in sound

道 and 首 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
道 *lˤuʔ-s
首 *l̥uʔ-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

導

Meaning (1)

導

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dawH	lˤuʔ-s	show the way
	dawX	[kə.l]ˤuʔ	way

說文解字

所行道也。从辵从𩠐。一達謂之道。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

huá magnificent Traditional

Original meaning: flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 𠌶 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "flower", now written as 花. The meaning later shifted to "blossoming", "flourishing" and "magnificent".

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

𠌶 Sound Meaning component

huā flower

Pictograph of a fully bloomed flower.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠌶 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xwae	qʷʰˤra	flower (n.)
	hwae	N-qʷʰˤra	flower (v.); flowery (adj.)
	hwaeH	[ɢ]ʷˤra-s	[name of a mountain]

說文解字

榮也。从艸从𠌶。凡華之屬皆从華。

Sources

Character origin: 李学勤《字源》p.554-555
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

华 huá magnificent Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Sources

容 róng contain; appearance

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

道 dào, dao path

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

華 huá magnificent Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Remnant (1)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

huá magnificent Simplified

róng contain; appearance

dào, dao path

huá magnificent Traditional