抓搔
zhuā​sāo

scratch

抓 zhuā scratch

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 瓜 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

爪
爪 SoundMeaning component
zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsraew[ts](ˤ)ru grasp
tsraewXtsˤ<r>uʔ grasp

Sources

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

搔 sāo to scratch

To scratch 扌 a flea bite 蚤; 蚤 also provides the pronunciation

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand
蚤
蚤 SoundMeaning component
zǎo, zhǎo flea

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsaws-[ts]ˤuscratch (v.)
Zhengzhangsuː
Unicodesɑu

說文解字

括也。从手蚤聲。

Sources

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