外侧沟
wài​cè​gōu

lateral sulcus

外 wài outside

Phonosemantic compound. 卜 represents the meaning and 月 represents the sound.

Components

卜
卜 Iconic component
bo fortune telling

Depicts the cracks on the outside of a turtle shell.

月
月 Sound component
yuè, yue moon

Looks like 夕, which is also a pictograph of a moon.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 月 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngwajH[ŋ]ʷˤa[t]-s outside

說文解字

《說文》：“外，遠也。卜尚平旦，今夕卜，於事外矣。，古文外。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.555-556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)

侧 cè side Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 则 represents the sound. Simplified form of 側.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

则
则 Sound component
zé rule

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

沟 gōu ditch, ravine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 溝.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

勾
勾 Sound component
gōu hook

勾 is a component form of 句.

Sources

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

側 cè side Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 則 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

則
則 Sound component
zé rule

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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-Sagarttsrik[ts]rəkslanting, oblique; side
Zhengzhangʔsrɯɡ
Unicodejriək
jriək

說文解字

㫄也。从人則聲。

Sources

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

溝 gōu ditch, ravine Traditional

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

冓
冓 Sound component
gòu, gōu a secluded place

Character Evolution

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[k]ˤ(r)o irrigation canal

說文解字

《說文》：“溝，水瀆，廣四尺，深四尺。从水，冓聲。”

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)