hán​xiū​cǎo

mimosa

hán contain, hold in mouth

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
jīn now
Change in sound
Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthomCə-m-kˤ[ə]m hold in the mouth
homHCə-m-[k]ˤ[ə]m-s to put in the mouth

說文解字

《說文》:“含,嗛也。从口,今聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

xiū shy, ashamed

Original meaning: offer a delicacy

Depicts a hand () holding sheep meat (). Based on the original meaning "offer a delicacy", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
yáng sheep
SoundIconic component
chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly

Depicts a hand.


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 Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjuws-nu shame

說文解字

《說文》:“羞,進獻也。从羊,羊所進也;从丑,丑亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

cǎo grass

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

SoundMeaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
zǎo early

Character Evolution

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-SagarttshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ grass, plants
tshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ rough, coarse

說文解字

草斗,櫟實也。一曰象斗子。从艸早聲。

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica