bǔ​rǔ​lèi

mammals

chew food

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

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Sound component
fu begin

Character Evolution

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

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbuH[b]ˤa-sfood held in the mouth
Zhengzhangbaːs
Unicodebhò

說文解字

哺咀也。从口甫聲。

Sources

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

breast, milk

Depicts a mother holding () a child () breastfeeding it.

Components

Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

is a component form of . Depicts a hand.

Iconic component
zi, zǐ child
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a mother breastfeeding.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyuXnoʔ milk; nipple

說文解字

《說文》:“乳,人及鳥生子曰乳,獸曰產。从孚,从乙。乙者,玄鳥也。《明堂》、《月令》:‘玄鳥至之日,祠于高禖以請子。’故乳从乙。請子必以乙至之日者,乙春分來,秋分去,開生之候鳥,帝少昊司分之官也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

lèi class Simplified

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

Components

Simplified component
rice

Shorthand for , the sound component in the traditional character .

Simplified component
dà, dài big

Shorthand for , the meaning component in the traditional character .

Sources

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

lèi class, kind Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
bright white
Meaning component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwijH[r]u[t]-s category

說文解字

《說文》:“類,種類相似,唯犬為甚。从犬,頪聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica