大鳞大麻哈鱼
dà​lín​dá​má​hǎ​yú

king salmon

大 dà, dài big

Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (9 of 21 verified)

去太奇套尖奈赤契夸奎奢奕叁奘夯奁夼尜奩奓𢧤

Iconic (21)

天因美夫央亦乘衡牵熊夹爽奚鬱粦耎夨叕夾椉業

Sound (6 of 11 verified)

太达夺泰驮耷奪馱忕羍旲

Simplified (4)

类奖奋庆

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

爨䙴

Deleted (1)

业

Remnant (1)

椉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdaHlˤat-s (MC F!)big
dajHlˤa[t]-s big

說文解字

《說文》：“大，天大、地大、人亦大，故大象人形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.764
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鳞 lín fish scales Simplified

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish

fish

粦
粦 Sound component
lín will-o'-the wisp, phosphorus

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

麻 má, ma hemp

Depicts hemp leaves (𣏟) growing under a cliff (厂). The cliff (厂) component was later written as 广.

Components

厂
厂 Iconic component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

Depicts a cliff.

𣏟
𣏟 Iconic component
pài hemp

Depicts hemp leaves.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 8 verified)

摩魔磨嘛麽靡糜麼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

縻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaeC.mˤraj hemp

說文解字

《說文》：“麻，與同。人所治，在屋下。从广，从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.585-586
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

哈 hā sound of laughter

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
合
合 Sound component
hé to join

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋɡuːb

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

鱼 yú fish Simplified

Simplified form of 魚. Pictograph of a fish.

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 76 verified)

鲜鲍鲸鳞鳍鲤鳌鲨鳄鳃鳖鳎鳗鲇鲫鲈鲑鳅鳝鱿鲟鲂鲆鲎鳕鲢鲶鲛鳟鳏鳊鲋鲅鲮鲱鲰鲲鲡鲠鳢鳔鲃鳙鲚鳇鲷鲔鲥鲵鲭鳐鲳鳜鲽鲴鳑鲦鲩鲻鲐鲕鲞鳀鳓鲙鳘鲣鳆鲯鲒鳣鲗鲼鳋鲺𱈜

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

鲁渔稣蓟

Iconic (3)

鲁渔鲧

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鱗 fish scales Traditional

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish

fish

粦
粦 Sound component
lín will-o'-the wisp, phosphorus

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlinC.r[ə][n]scale of fish or reptile
Zhengzhangrin
Unicodelin

說文解字

魚甲也。从魚粦聲。

Sources

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

魚 yú fish Traditional

Pictograph of a fish.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
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

Meaning (4 of 61 verified)

鱖鱧鮮鯔鰲鱥鯕鯡鰹鮨鱣鰟鱉鱻鯛鱗鯊鯖鯗鰻鱺鯽鮭鮪鯨鱀鱄鱒鯤鱅魷鰣鯉鰭鰱魠鱸鱠鯷鱘鰓鮑鰾鰈鮫鰥鱔䰾鯇鰂魝鱈鰆鯧鯰鯢鯫鮃鱷鯪鱆

Iconic (4)

鯀漁爯魯

Sound (3)

漁魯穌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjo[r.ŋ]a fish (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“魚，水蟲也。象形。魚尾與燕尾相似。”

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)