弄脏
nòng​zāng

soil

弄 nòng fiddle with

Depicts a pair of hands (廾) playing with a jade object (玉).

Components

玉
玉 Iconic component
yù jade
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartluwngH[r]ˤoŋ-s manipulate, play with

說文解字

《說文》：“弄，玩也。从廾持玉。”

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)

脏 zàng, zāng internal organs, dirty Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 庄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 髒 (dirty) and 臟 (internal organ).

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

庄
庄 Sound component
zhuāng village, farmstead

Sources

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

髒 dirty Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 骨 represents the meaning and 葬 represents the sound.

Components

骨
骨 Meaning component
gǔ, gú bone
葬
葬 Sound component
zàng bury

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsaːŋʔ

Sources

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