宇宙
yǔ​zhòu HSK7

universe

宇 yǔ house

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 于 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
于
于 Sound component
yú at

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjuX[ɢ]ʷ(r)aʔ eaves

說文解字

《說文》：“宇，屋邊也。从宀，于聲。《易》曰：‘上棟下宇’。，籀文宇从禹。”

Sources

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

宙 zhòu time as concept

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 由 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
由
由 Sound component
yóu cause
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangl'ɯwɢs
Unicodedjhiòu

說文解字

《說文》：“宙，舟輿所極覆也。从宀，由聲。”

Sources

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