布帛菽粟
bù​bó​shū​sù

necessities

布 bù cotton cloth

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 父 represents the sound.

Components

父
父 Sound component
fù father
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 父 than it was in ancient scripts.
巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 (1 of 4 verified)

怖钸鈽佈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuHpˤa-s cloth
puHpˤa-s cloth

說文解字

《說文》：“布，枲織也。从巾，父聲。”

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)

帛 bó silks

Phonosemantic compound. 巾 represents the meaning and 白 represents the sound.

Components

巾
巾 Meaning component
jīn cloth
白
白 Sound component
bái, bai white
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 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 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

Meaning (1 of 6 verified)

锦棉绵綿錦幫

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbaek[b]ˤrak silk

說文解字

《說文》：“帛，繒也。从巾，白聲。”

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)

菽 shū, jiāo beans and peas

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

plant

叔
叔 Sound component
shū, shu uncle

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyuwks-t(ʰ)ukpulse, beans
Zhengzhanghljɯwɢ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

粟 sù unhusked millet

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 角 represents the sound.

Components

角
角 Sound component
jiǎo, jué horn

Modern form looks like unrelated 覀.

Change in sound
米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

僳

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjowk[s]ok grain (rice or millet) in husk

說文解字

《說文》：“（粟），嘉穀實也。从，从米。孔子曰：‘粟之為言續也。’，籀文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.562
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)