抹灰
mǒ​huī

dishonor

抹 mǒ, mā smear

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

末
末 Sound component
mò end

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːd
Unicodemɑt

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

灰 huī ashes

Depicts a hand (又) picking ashes left over from a fire (火).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

恢盔诙咴詼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwojm̥ˤə ashes

說文解字

《說文》：“灰，死火餘也。从火，从又。又，手也。火既滅，可以執持。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.890
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)