拱坝
gǒng​bà

arch dam

拱 gǒng fold hands on breast

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

共
共 Sound component
gòng together with

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjowngXk(r)oŋʔjoin the hands
Zhengzhangkloŋʔ
Unicodegiǒng

說文解字

斂手也。从手共聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
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

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