咒诅
zhòu​zǔ

curse

咒 zhòu curse

Derived from 祝, with the 礻 (show) component being replaced by 口 (mouth) component when the meaning extended to "curse". Depicts a kneeling person (卩) opening their mouth (口) to pray for disaster to happen on someone.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 几.

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtjus

Sources

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

诅 zǔ curse Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound. Simplified form of 詛.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

且
且 Sound component
qiě moreover

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

詛 curse Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
且
且 Sound component
qiě moreover

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsraʔ
ʔsras

說文解字

詶也。从言且聲。

Sources

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