咬钩
yǎo​gōu

bite

咬 yǎo bite

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

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
交
交 Sound component
jiāo to cross, to mix

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkreːw
ŋɡreːwʔ
qreːw
Unicodegǎu

Sources

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

钩 gōu hook Simplified

A metal 钅 hook 勾; 勾 also provides the pronunciation

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal
勾
勾 SoundMeaning component
gōu hook

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鉤 gōu hook Traditional

A metal 釒 hook 句; 句 also provides the pronunciation

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal
句
句 SoundMeaning component
jù sentence

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[kˤ](r)ohook
Zhengzhangkoː
Unicodegou

說文解字

曲也。从金从句，句亦聲。

Sources

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