yǎ​ba

mute

dumb Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
Asia, sub-

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

ba, bā to wish

Depicts a person grabbing something with their hand. Original form of . In modern Chinese this character is usually used only for its sound.

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaepˤra snake
paepˤra [place name]

說文解字

《說文》:“巴,蟲也。或曰食象蛇。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.1637
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

dumb Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
Asia, sub-

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartʔaeXʔˤraʔmute
Zhengzhangqraːʔ
qraːɡs
qraːɡ
qraːɡ
Unicode

說文解字

笑也。从口亞聲。《易》曰:“笑言啞啞。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica