合奏
hé​zòu

ensemble

合 hé to join

Depicts two mouths talking to each other.

Components

亼
亼 Iconic component
jí (upside-down mouth), to assemble
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

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 Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 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

Component uses

Sound (7 of 22 verified)

给答哈恰拾盒鸽颌蛤龛袷給饸铪閤荅鴿頜龕峇餄耠

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

会洽翕搿會

Simplified (2)

会仓

Iconic (2)

仓倉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkopkˤop together; put together; combined
hopm-kˤop come together; bring together

說文解字

《說文》：“合，合口也。从亼，从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.438
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

奏 zòu memorialize emperor

Original meaning: perform music and dance as prayer

Depicts holding decorative plant (𠦪) in both hands (廾) for use in a musical performance to pray.

Components

𠦪
𠦪 Iconic component
tāo, hū decorative plant
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 𠦪 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

凑揍辏腠楱湊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsuwHtsˤo(ʔ)-s bring forward; perform (music)

說文解字

《說文》：“奏，奏進也。从夲，从，从屮；屮，上進之義。，古文。，亦古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.778-779
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)