吸毒
xī​dú HSK6

take drugs

吸 xī inhale

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 及 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
及
及 Sound component
jí extend

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxipqʰ(r)əp inhale

說文解字

《說文》：“吸，內息也。从口，及聲。”

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)

毒 dú poison

Depicts a plant (屮) that is not good (毐), i.e. a poisonous plant.

Components

屮
屮 Meaning component
chè, cǎo sprout
毐
毐 Meaning component
aǐ, ǎi person of reprehensible morals

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

碡

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

纛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdowk[d]ˤuk poison (n.)
dowkm-[d]ˤuk-s to poison (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“毒，厚也，害人之艸，往往而生。从屮，从毐。，古文毒，从刀、葍。”

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)