台湾叶鼻蝠
Tái​wān​yè​bí​fú

Formosan leaf-nosed bat

台 tái platform

Originally 台 and 㠯 were pronounced the same and thus written the same. Later 口 was added to distinguish the characters.

Components

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth
㠯
㠯 SoundRemnant component
yǐ by means of

㠯 is an ancient variant of 以.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 㠯 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 24 verified)

治始抬胎怡怠苔殆贻诒迨笞饴跆邰炱眙骀鲐绐詒颱貽飴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyilə I, me

說文解字

《說文》：“台，說也。从口，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)

湾 wān bay Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 弯 represents the sound. Simplified form of 灣.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

弯
弯 Sound component
wān bend

Sources

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

叶 yè be in harmony, leaf Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound. Originally a variant of 協 (cooperate). Later used as the simplified form of the phonetically similar character 葉 (leaf).

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Based on the meaning "cooperate", "be in harmony". Unrelated to "leaf".

十
十 Sound component
shí ten
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

鼻 bí nose

Phonosemantic compound. 自 is a pictograph of a nose and 畀 represents the sound.

Components

自
自 Iconic component
zì (nose), self

Depicts a nose.

畀
畀 Sound component
bì to give

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 5 verified)

鼾擤劓齄鼽

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

濞劓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjijHCə-bi[t]-s smell (v.t.)
bjijHm-bi[t]-s nose

說文解字

《說文》：“鼻，引气自畀也。从自、畀。”

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)

蝠 fú kind of bat

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 畐 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
畐
畐 Sound component
fú, bì to fill

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpɯɡ
Unicodebiuk

說文解字

蝙蝠，服翼也。从虫畐聲。

Sources

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

灣 wān bay Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 彎 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

彎
彎 Sound component
wān bend

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqroːn
Unicodequan

Sources

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

葉 yè leaf Traditional

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

枼
枼 SoundMeaning component
yè leaf

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyepl[a]p leaf

說文解字

《說文》：“葉，艸木之葉也。从艸，枼聲。”

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)