坎坷
kǎn​kě

rough

坎 kǎn pit

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 欠 represents the sound. Simplified form of 埳.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
欠
欠 Sound component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

莰

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhomX[k]ʰˤomʔpit (n.)
Zhengzhangkʰoːmʔ
kʰoːms
Unicodekǒm

說文解字

陷也。从土欠聲。

Sources

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

坷 kě, kē clod of earth

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
可
可 Sound component
kě able to

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰaːlʔ
kʰaːls

說文解字

坎坷也。梁國寕陵有坷亭。从土可聲。

Sources

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