扫墓
sǎo​mù HSK7

visit a grave

扫 sǎo, sào sweep Simplified

Simplified form of 掃. Depicts using a hand (扌) sweeping with a broom (帚).

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

彐
彐 Simplified component
jì snout

Shorthand for the 帚 component in the traditional character 掃.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

墓 mù grave

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 莫 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
莫
莫 Sound component
mò, mo do not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmuHC.mˤak-sgrave (n.)
Zhengzhangmaːɡs
Unicodemò

說文解字

丘也。从土莫聲。

Sources

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

掃 sǎo, sào sweep Traditional

Depicts using a hand (扌) sweeping with a broom (帚).

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

帚
帚 SoundMeaning component
zhou broom

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsuːʔ
suːs
Unicodesɑ̌u
sɑ̀u

Sources

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