媒材
méi​cái

medium

媒 méi, mèi matchmaker, medium

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

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
某
某 Sound component
mǒu certain thing or person

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojC.mˤə match-maker, go-between

說文解字

《說文》：“媒，謀也，謀合二姓。从女，某聲。”

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)

材 cái, cai material

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
才
才 Sound component
cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzoj[dz]ˤə timber

說文解字

《說文》：“材，木梃也。从木，才聲。”

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)