彩绘
cǎi​huì

paint

彩 cǎi, cai hue, color

Phonosemantic compound. 彡 represents the meaning and 采 represents the sound.

Components

采
采 Sound component
cǎi gather, pick
彡
彡 Meaning component
shān, xiǎn hair

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshojXs.r̥ˤəʔ colorful

說文解字

《說文新附》：“彩，文章也。从彡，采聲。”

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)

绘 huì draw Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 会 represents the sound. Simplified form of 繪.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

会
会 Sound component
huì, kuài to gather

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

繪 huì draw Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 會 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

會
會 Sound component
huì, kuài to gather

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡoːbs

說文解字

《說文》：“繪，會五采繡也。《虞書》曰：‘山龍華蟲作繪。’《論語》曰：‘繪事後素。’从糸，會聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)