妊妇 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

rènfù

expectant mother

rèn, rén conceive

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 壬 represents the sound. Simplified form of 姙.

Components

女 Meaning component

nǚ, nü woman

壬 Sound component

rén 9th heavenly stem

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	njɯms

說文解字

孕也。从女从壬，壬亦聲。

Sources

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

fù, fu married women Simplified

Simplified form of 婦. Depicts a woman (女) using a broom (帚). Women were traditionally responsible for household chores in ancient times. 帚 also represents the sound.

Components

女 Iconic component

nǚ, nü woman

彐 Simplified component

jì snout

Shorthand for the 帚 component in the traditional character 婦.

Sources

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

fù, fu married women Traditional

Depicts a woman (女) using a broom (帚). Women were traditionally responsible for household chores in ancient times. 帚 also represents the sound.

Components

女 Iconic component

nǚ, nü woman

帚 Sound Iconic component

zhou broom

Change in sound

婦 and 帚 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
婦 *mə.bəʔ (or *tsə.-? see Min)
帚 *[t.p]əʔ

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Western Zhou 1045-771 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Jin 266-420 AD

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 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

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	bjuwX	mə.bəʔ (or *tsə.-? see Min)	woman, wife

說文解字

《說文》：“婦，服也。从女持帚，灑掃也。”

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)