卡萨布兰卡
Kǎ​sà​bù​lán​kǎ

Casablanca

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

萨 sà Bodhisattva, Buddhist idol Simplified

Simplified form of 薩. Used in transliterations of Sanskrit words, such as "Bodhisattva" (菩萨).

Components

艹
艹 Unknown component
cao, cǎo grass
隡
隡 Simplified component
sà [geographical place name]

Sources

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

布 bù cotton cloth

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 父 represents the sound.

Components

父
父 Sound component
fù father
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 父 than it was in ancient scripts.
巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

怖钸鈽佈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuHpˤa-s cloth
puHpˤa-s cloth

說文解字

《說文》：“布，枲織也。从巾，父聲。”

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)

兰 lán orchid Simplified

Simplified form of 蘭. Phonosemantic compound. 䒑 represents the meaning and 三 represents the sound.

Components

䒑
䒑 Meaning component
cǎo grass

䒑 is a component form of 艸.

二
二 Simplified component
èr two

Shorthand for the 闌 component in the traditional character 蘭.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

烂拦栏

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

薩 sà Bodhisattva, Buddhist idol Traditional

Used in transliterations of Sanskrit words, such as "Bodhisattva" (菩萨). Possibly a corruption of 薛.

Components

艹
艹 Unknown component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

隡
隡 Unknown component
sà [geographical place name]

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsaːd

Sources

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

蘭 orchid Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlank.rˤan orchid

說文解字

《說文》：“蘭，香艸也。从艸，闌聲。”

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)