台湾画眉
Tái​wān​huà​méi

Taiwan hwamei

台 tái platform Simplified

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

画 huà a painting Simplified

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something. The simplified character 画 was adapted from a variant.

Components

畫
聿 Deleted component
yù writing brush
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a picture being drawn.

Sources

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

眉 méi eyebrows

Depicts hair above the eye (目).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts eyebrows.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

履媚湄嵋楣镅鹛猸

Iconic (1)

履

Remnant (1)

履

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmijmr[ə][r] eyebrow

說文解字

《說文》：“眉，目上毛也。从目，象眉之形，上象頟理也。”

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)

臺 tower, platform Traditional

Depicts a tall (高) building (室).

Components

高
高 MeaningRemnant component
gāo high
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 高 than it was in ancient scripts.
室
室 Meaning component
shì room

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

薹擡檯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdojlˤə tower

說文解字

《說文》：“臺，觀，四方而高者。从至、从之、从高省。與室屋同意。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.830
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
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

畫 huà a painting Traditional

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something.

Components

聿
聿 Iconic component
yù writing brush
周
周 Iconic component
zhōu cycle

Depicts a carved jade object.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 周 than it was in ancient scripts.
乂
乂 Unknown component
yì, ài mow grass

Upper frame? of the drawing, found in the simplified form and possibly in the variant 𬚪

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 (1)

劃

Meaning (1)

劃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthweaHC-gʷˤrek-s drawing (n.)
hweakgʷˤrek draw (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“畫，界也。象田四界，聿所以畫之。，古文畫省。亦古文畫。”

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)