墨西哥卷饼
Mò​xī​gē​juǎn​bǐng

burrito

墨 mò ink

Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 黑 represents the sound. Originally written as 黑, which depicts a person whose face has been tattooed.

Components

黑
黑 SoundIconic component
hēi black

Depicts a person whose face has been tattooed.

Change in sound
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmokC.mˤək ink

說文解字

《說文》：“墨，書墨也。从土，从黑，黑亦聲。”

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)

西 xi, xī west

西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 10 verified)

牺洒栖茜哂硒溧舾粞恓

Simplified (1)

晒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsejs-nˤər west
sejs-nˤər west

說文解字

《說文》：“西，鳥在巢上，象形。日在西方而鳥棲，故因以為東西之西。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.831-832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)

哥 gē, ge elder brother

Original meaning: to sing

Duplicate of 可, which has a similar sound. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

可
可 Sound component
kě able to
可
可 Sound component
kě able to

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3)

歌謌𬤐

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkaːl
Unicodegɑ

說文解字

《說文》：“哥，聲也。从二可。古文以為謌字。”

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)

卷 juǎn, juàn curl, roll Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 龹 represents the sound and 卩 represents the meaning.

Components

龹
龹 Sound component
juǎn to roll rice into a ball
卩
卩 Meaning component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person with bent knees.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 9 verified)

圈倦蜷绻鬈锩綣惓捲

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

圈倦蜷鬈捲

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjwenX[k](r)o[n]ʔ roll (v.)
gjwen[g]ʷren handsome

說文解字

《說文》：“卷，厀曲也。从卪，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)

饼 bǐng, bing rice-cakes Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 饣 represents the meaning and 并 represents the sound. Simplified form of 餅.

Components

饣
饣 Meaning component
shí eat

饣 is a component form of 食.

并
并 Sound component
bìng combine

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

捲 juǎn, quán, juàn curl, roll up Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 卷 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

卷
卷 SoundMeaning component
juǎn, juàn curl, roll

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkronʔ
krons
ɡron
Unicodegyuɛ̌n

說文解字

《說文》：“捲，气勢也。从手，卷聲。《國語》曰：‘有捲勇。’一曰捲收也。”

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)

餅 bǐng, bing rice-cakes Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 飠 represents the meaning and 并 represents the sound.

Components

飠
飠 Meaning component
eat

飠 is a component form of 食.

并
并 Sound component
bìng combine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjiengXpeŋʔ cake

說文解字

《說文》：“餅，麪餈也。从食，并聲。”

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)