尤卡坦半岛
Yóu​kǎ​tǎn Bàn​dǎo

Yucatan Peninsula

尤 yóu especially

Original meaning: wart

Pictograph of a hand with a wart on it. The original meaning "wart" is now written as 疣. The original meaning later expanded to "strange, bizarre" and "outstanding, special".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 7 verified)

就优犹忧疣鱿魷

Unknown (0 of 2 verified)

稽嵇

Simplified (1)

扰

Iconic (1)

疣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthjuw[ɢ]ʷə fault; even more

說文解字

《說文》：“尤，異也。从乙，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.960
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

卡 kǎ stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above (上) and something below (下). The uses of 卡 to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

上
上 Iconic component
shàng, shang up
下
下 Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

咔胩佧

Sources

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

坦 tǎn flat

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 旦 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
旦
旦 Sound component
dàn dawn

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthanX[tʰ]ˤa[n]ʔ level, at ease

說文解字

《說文》：“坦，安也。从土，旦聲。”

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)

半 bàn half

Depicts separating a cow (牛) into two halves (八).

Components

八
八 Iconic component
bā eight

Depicts splitting into two halves.

牛
牛 Iconic component
niú cow
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 牛 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 11 verified)

判伴叛胖畔衅绊拌袢泮絆

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

畔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpanHpˤan-s half

說文解字

《說文》：“半，物中分也。从八，从牛。牛為物大，可以分也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.89-90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)

岛 dǎo island Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 山 represents the meaning and 鸟 represents the sound. Simplified form of 島.

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
鸟
鸟 Sound component
niǎo bird

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

捣

Sources

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

島 dǎo island Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 山 represents the meaning and 鳥 represents the sound.

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
鳥
鳥 Sound component
niǎo bird

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

搗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttawXtˤuʔ island

說文解字

《說文》：“，海中往往有山可依止曰。”

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)