怯懦
qiè​nuò

cowardly

怯 qiè lacking in courage

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

去
去 Sound component
qù go away

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰab
Unicodekiæp

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

懦 nuò weak

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 需 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

需
需 Sound component
xū need

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangnoːls
njo
Unicodenuɑ̀

說文解字

駑弱者也。从心需聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)