卡垫
kǎ​diàn

Tibetan rug

卡 kǎ stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above (上) and something below (下). The uses of 卡 to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

上
上 Iconic component
shàng, shang up
下
下 Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

咔胩佧

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

垫 diàn advance money Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 执 represents the sound. Simplified form of 墊.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
执
执 Sound component
zhí hold in hand

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

墊 diàn advance money Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 執 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
執
執 Sound component
zhí hold in hand

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttemH[t]ˤ[i]m-sdescend
tep[t]ˤip(place in Sìchuān, no pre-Hàn text)
Zhengzhangtiːms
diːb

說文解字

下也。《春秋傳》曰：“墊隘。”从土執聲。

Sources

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