呆萌
dāi​méng

endearingly silly

呆 dāi dull, stupid

Depicts the mouth (口) being stuck and not moving, like wood (木), representing someone stupid or expressionless.

Components

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtɯː
ŋɯː

Sources

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

萌 méng, míng bud

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

明
明 Sound component
míng, ming bright

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmreːŋ

說文解字

艸芽也。从艸明聲。

Sources

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