xìng​gòu

intercourse

xìng, xing nature

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

is a component form of .

Sound component
shēng, sheng life

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjengHseŋ-s nature

說文解字

《說文》:“性,人之陽气性善者也。从心,生聲。”

Sources

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

gòu marry

To know a woman's  secret  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
SoundMeaning component
gòu, gōu a secluded place

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwHkˤ(r)o-s2nd marriage
Zhengzhangkoːs

說文解字

重㛰也。从女冓聲。《易》曰:“匪寇,㛰媾。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica