孜孜矻矻
zī​zī​kū​kū

diligently

孜 zī be as diligent as possible

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 子 represents the sound.

Components

攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

子
子 Sound component
zi, zǐ child

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔslɯ
Unicodetziə

說文解字

汲汲也。从攴子聲。《周書》曰：“孜孜無怠。”

Sources

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

矻 kū, qià toil

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone

stone

乞
乞 Sound component
qǐ, qì beg

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰuːd

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang