拦河坝
lán​hé​bà

river dam

拦 lán obstruct Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 兰 represents the sound. Simplified form of 攔.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

兰
兰 Sound component
lán orchid

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

河 hé river

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 可 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

可
可 Sound component
kě able to

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

菏

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

菏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartha[C.g]ˤaj river

說文解字

《說文》：“河，水。出焞煌塞外昆侖山，發原注海。从水，可聲。”

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)

坝 bà embankment Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 贝 represents the sound. Simplified form of 壩.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
贝
贝 Sound component
bèi sea shell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

攔 lán obstruct Traditional

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raːn
Unicodelɑn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

壩 bà embankment Traditional

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

earth

霸
霸 Sound component
bà rule by might rather than right

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpraːɡs

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang