奥黛丽·赫本
ào​dài​lì Hè​běn

Audrey Hepburn

奥 aò, ào, yù mysterious Simplified

Original meaning: to store

Simplified form of 奧. Depicts two hands (廾) hiding rice (米) in a corner or a container. Based on the original meaning "to store". The meaning later shifted to "obscure", "profound", and "mysterious".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a hidden corner or a container.

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice

Depicts grains of rice.

廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Depicts two hands.

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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

噢懊燠襖

說文解字

宛也。室之西南隅。从宀𢍏聲。

Sources

Character origin
鄔可晶《釋「奧」》Wiktionary (JA)
Readings & variants
Unicode
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

黛 dài blacken eyebrows

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 代 represents the sound.

Components

黑
黑 Meaning component
hēi black
代
代 Sound component
dài replace

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangl'ɯːɡs
Unicodedhə̀i

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

丽 lì beautiful Simplified

Simplified form of 麗. Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers. The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

麗
鹿 Deleted component
lù deer

The traditional component 鹿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 7 verified)

俪骊郦鹂逦鲡酾

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːls

Sources

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

赫 hè, shì bright

Duplicate of 赤, a bright red color.

Components

赤
赤 Meaning component
chì red
赤
赤 Meaning component
chì red

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 (1)

嚇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxaekqʰˤrak red, fiery

說文解字

《說文》：“赫，火赤皃。从二赤。”

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)

本 běn root

Addition of a horizontal line toward the bottom of 木 (tree) to represent the roots of the tree.

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts roots.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

笨钵苯缽

Meaning (1)

体

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpwonXC.pˤə[n]ʔ tree trunk

說文解字

《說文》：“本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。楍，古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.484-485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)

奧 mysterious Traditional

Original meaning: to store

Depicts two hands (廾) hiding rice (米) in a corner or a container. Based on the original meaning "to store". The meaning later shifted to "obscure", "profound", and "mysterious".

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a hidden corner or a container.

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice

Depicts grains of rice. Modern form looks like 釆.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 米 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Depicts two hands.

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

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

Component uses

Sound (1)

澳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'awHʔˤuk-s southwest corner of a house
'juwkʔ(r)uk cove in the bank of a stream

說文解字

《說文》：“奧，宛也。室之西南隅。从宀，聲。”

Sources

Character origin
鄔可晶《釋「奧」》Wiktionary (JA)
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

麗 lì beautiful Traditional

Pictograph of a deer (鹿) with two beautiful antlers.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two beautiful antlers on the head of a deer.

鹿
鹿 Iconic component
lù deer

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

鱺儷曬灑鸝驪

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlejH[r]ˤe-s symmetrical

說文解字

《說文》：“麗，旅行也。鹿之性見食急則必旅行。从鹿，丽聲。《禮》‘麗皮納聘’，蓋鹿皮也。，古文；，篆文麗字。”

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)