servant girl

A humble  woman  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
SoundMeaning component
bēi humble, inferior

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjieX[b]eʔfemale slave or servant
Zhengzhangpeʔ
beʔ
Unicodebhiɛ̌

說文解字

女之卑者也。从女从卑,卑亦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica