圆滑
yuán​huá

tactful

圆 yuán circle Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 员 represents the sound. Simplified form of 圓.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
员
员 Sound component
yuán member

Sources

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

滑 huá, hua slip, slide

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 骨 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

骨
骨 Sound component
gǔ, gú bone
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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-SagarthweatNə-gˤrut slippery

說文解字

《說文》：“滑，利也。从水，骨聲。”

Sources

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

圓 yuán circle Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 囗 represents the meaning and 員 represents the sound. Originally written as 員.

Components

囗
囗 Meaning component
wéi, guó surround
員
員 Sound component
yuán member

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

袁

Remnant (1)

袁

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjwenɢʷ<r>en round

說文解字

《說文》：“圓，圜。全也。从囗，員聲，讀若員。”

Sources

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