妖媚
yāo​mèi

seductive

妖 yāo, jiǎo strange

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 夭 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
夭
夭 Sound component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqrow
Unicodeqyɛu

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

媚 mèi charming

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman

woman

眉
眉 Sound component
méi eyebrows

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmijHmrəjʔ-slove; flatter
Zhengzhangmrils
Unicodemyì

說文解字

說也。从女眉聲。

Sources

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