墓窖
mù​jiào

catacomb

墓 mù grave

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

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
莫
莫 Sound component
mò, mo do not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmuHC.mˤak-sgrave (n.)
Zhengzhangmaːɡs
Unicodemò

說文解字

丘也。从土莫聲。

Sources

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

窖 jiào pit

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 告 represents the sound.

Components

穴
穴 Meaning component
xué, jué cave
告
告 Sound component
gào tell

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkæwHkˤruk-scave
Zhengzhangkruːɡs

說文解字

地藏也。从穴告聲。

Sources

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