外汇储备
wài​huì​chǔ​bèi

foreign reserves

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)

汇 huì confluence of rivers, exchange Simplified

Depicts water (氵) gathered together (匚). Simplified form of 匯.

Components

氵
氵 MeaningSimplified component
shui, shuǐ water

Shorthand for the 淮 component in the traditional character 匯.

匚
匚 Meaning component
fāng, fàng box

Sources

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

储 chǔ save money Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 诸 represents the sound. Simplified form of 儲.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

诸
诸 Sound component
zhū several

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

备 bèi prepare Simplified

Simplified form of 備. Depicts preparing a container for arrows to equip oneself for battle.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

惫

Simplified (0 of 1 verified)

惫

Sources

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

匯 huì confluence of rivers, exchange Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 匚 represents the meaning and 淮 represents the sound.

Components

匚
匚 Meaning component
fāng, fàng box
淮
淮 SoundMeaning component
huái river in Anhui province

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɢʷrɯːlʔ
kʰʷriːl
Unicodehuə̌i

說文解字

《說文》：“匯，器也。从匚，淮聲。”

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)

儲 chǔ save money Traditional

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

諸
諸 Sound component
zhū several

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangda
Unicodedjhiu

說文解字

偫也。从人諸聲。

Sources

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

備 bèi prepare Traditional

Depicts a person (亻) preparing a container for arrows to equip himself for battle.

Components

亻
亻 Iconic component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two arrows.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for holding arrows.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

憊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbijH[b]rək-s complete (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“備，慎也。从人，聲。，古文備。”

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)