寓教于乐
yù​jiào​yú​lè

edutainment

寓 yù residence

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 禺 represents the sound. Simplified form of 庽.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
禺
禺 Sound component
yú, yù, ǒu district

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Jin 266-420 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjuHŋ(r)o-s lodge (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“寓，寄也。从宀，禺聲。庽，寓或从广。”

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)

教 jiào, jiāo teach

Depicts teaching a child (子) mathematics or divination (爻) using a rod (攵).

Components

爻
爻 SoundIconic component
yáo, xiào diagrams for divination
子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child
攵
攵 Iconic component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaews.[k]ˤraw teach
kaewHs.kˤraw-s teaching; instruction

說文解字

《說文》：“教，上所施下所效也。从攴，从。，古文教；，亦古文教。”

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)

于 yú at Simplified

Original meaning: wind instrument

Pictograph of a musical wind instrument with a reed, which is now written as 竽. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 13 verified)

宇污吁迂盂芋圩竽纡盱邘玗紆

Iconic (1)

竽

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjuɢʷ(r)a go; at
hjuɦʷa (< *ɢʷ(r)a)單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“于，於也。象气之舒于。从丂，从一。一者，其气平之也。”

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)

乐 lè, yuè happy, music Simplified

Pictograph of an ancient wooden stringed musical instrument. The simplified character 乐 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 樂.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

砾栎跞铄泺轹

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

烁

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

於 yū, wū in Traditional

Originally a variant form of 烏, which is a pictograph of a crow. The current use as a function word is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

淤瘀阏菸閼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'u[ʔ]ˤa oh!
'jo[ʔ]a at (locative preposition)

說文解字

《說文》：“烏，孝鳥也。象形。孔子曰：‘烏，呼也。’取其助气，故以為烏呼。，古文烏，象形。於，象古文烏省。”

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)

樂 lè, yuè happy, music Traditional

Depicts an ancient wooden stringed musical instrument. 白 represents the sound.

Components

幺
幺 Iconic component
yāo tiny

Depicts a string.

白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white
Change in sound
幺
幺 Iconic component
yāo tiny

Depicts a string.

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Depicts the wooden base of a musical instrument.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

藥櫟瓅鑠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

爍

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlak[r]ˤawk to cure
lak[r]ˤawk joy; enjoy
ngaewH[ŋ]ˤrawk-s cause to rejoice
ngaewk[ŋ]ˤrawk music

說文解字

《說文》：“樂，五聲八音緫名。象鼓鞞。木，虡也。”

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)