xiǎo​róng​yā

Steller's eider

xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as . The small dots possibly represent grains of sand ().

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Iconic (2)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》:“小,物之微也。从八,丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

róng silk Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
róng, rēng arms

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

duck Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
niǎo bird
Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

róng silk Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
róng, rēng arms

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangnjuŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

duck Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
niǎo bird
Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqraːb
Unicodeqap

說文解字

《說文新附》:“鴨,鶩也。俗謂之鴨。从鳥,甲聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica