底薪
dǐ​xīn

base pay

底 dǐ bottom

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 氐 represents the sound.

Components

广
广 Meaning component
guǎng roof
氐
氐 SoundMeaning component
dī, dǐ, zhī bottom

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttejXtˤijʔ bottom; stop, obstruct

說文解字

《說文》：“底，山居也。一曰下也。从广，氐聲。”

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)

薪 xīn firewood

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 新 represents the sound. Originally written as 新.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

新
新 Sound component
xīn new

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsin[s]i[n] firewood

說文解字

《說文》：“薪，蕘也。从艸，新聲。”

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)