yú​bèn

clumsy

stupid

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
Sound component
yú, yù, ǒu district

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋo
Unicodengio

說文解字

《說文》:“愚,戇也。从心,从禺。禺,猴屬,獸之愚者。”

Sources

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

bèn foolish

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
běn root

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpɯːnʔ
bɯːnʔ

說文解字

《說文》:“笨,竹裏也。从竹,本聲。”

Sources

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