wū​dú

voodoo

wizard, shaman

Depicts some sort of object used by shamans. The exact nature of this object is unclear.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuC.m(r)[o] magician

說文解字

《說文》:“巫,祝也。女能事無形,以舞降神者也。象人兩褎舞形,與工同意。古者巫咸初作巫。,古文巫。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

poison

Depicts a plant () that is not good (), i.e. a poisonous plant.

Components

Meaning component
chè, cǎo sprout
Meaning component
aǐ, ǎi person of reprehensible morals

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdowk[d]ˤuk poison (n.)
dowkm-[d]ˤuk-s to poison (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“毒,厚也,害人之艸,往往而生。从屮,从毐。,古文毒,从刀、葍。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica