悄悄
qiāo​qiāo HSK5

stealthy

悄 qiāo silent

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

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

肖
肖 Sound component
xiào look like

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰewʔ
Unicodetsiɛ̌u

說文解字

憂也。从心肖聲。《詩》曰：“憂心悄悄。”

Sources

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