投递员 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tóu throw

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

Components

扌 Meaning component

shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

殳 Sound component

shū weapon or tool

Change in sound

投 and 殳 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
投 *[d]ˤo
殳 *[d]o

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	duw	[d]ˤo	throw

說文解字

《說文》：“投，擿也。从手，从殳。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

dì hand over Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 弟 represents the sound. Simplified form of 遞.

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

弟 Sound component

dì, di younger brother

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica

yuán member Simplified

Simplified form of 員. Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

贝 Iconic Remnant component

bèi sea shell

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 贝 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

损圆勋陨殒郧埙筼

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

dì hand over Traditional

Components

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

walk

虒 Sound component

sī, xī, tí an amphibious beast resembling a tiger with one horn

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dejX	lˤeʔ	alternate
Zhengzhang		l'eːʔ
		l'eːs
Unicode	dhěi
	dhèi

說文解字

更易也。从辵虒聲。

Sources

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

yuán member Traditional

Original meaning: round

Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a circle.

鼎 Iconic Remnant component

dǐng, zhēn cooking pot

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 鼎 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

韻損勛篔殞隕鄖圓

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hjwen	ɢʷ<r>en	circle; round
	hjun	[ɢ]ʷə[n]	(a particle)

說文解字

《說文》：“員，物數也。从貝，口聲。鼎，籀文从鼎。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

投 tóu throw

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

递 dì hand over Simplified

Components

Character Evolution

Sources

员 yuán member Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Sources

遞 dì hand over Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

員 yuán member Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

tóu throw

dì hand over Simplified

yuán member Simplified

dì hand over Traditional

yuán member Traditional