哑谜
yǎ​mí

riddle

哑 yǎ dumb Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 亚 represents the sound. Simplified form of 啞.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
亚
亚 Sound component
yà Asia, sub-

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

谜 mí, mèi riddle Simplified

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

啞 yǎ dumb Traditional

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

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
亞
亞 Sound component
yà Asia, sub-

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartʔaeXʔˤraʔmute
Zhengzhangqraːʔ
qraːɡs
qraːɡ
qraːɡ
Unicodeqà

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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

謎 riddle Traditional

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmiː
miːs

說文解字

《說文新附》：“謎，隱語也。从言、迷，迷亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)