挑肥拣瘦
tiāo​féi​jiǎn​shòu

cherry-pick

挑 tiāo, tiǎo carry on the shoulder, pick

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 兆 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

兆
兆 Sound component
zhào omen

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthewl̥ˤew scratch, stir up
dewXlˤewʔ provoke

說文解字

《說文》：“挑，撓也。从手，兆聲。一曰摷也。《國語》曰：‘郤至挑夭。’”

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)

肥 féi fat

Depicts a person (卩) with extra flesh (肉) on their body.

Components

⺼
⺼ Iconic component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like 巴.

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

淝

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbj+j[b][ə]r fat (adj.)

說文解字

《說文》：“肥，多肉也。从肉，从卪。”

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)

拣 jiǎn choose Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 柬 represents the sound. Simplified form of 揀.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

柬
柬 SoundSimplified component
jiǎn letter

Derived from the cursive form of the traditional 柬 component.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

瘦 shòu thin

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 叟 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
叟
叟 Sound component
sǒu, sōu, xiāo old man

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsrjuwHsru-s lean (adj.)

Sources

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

揀 jiǎn choose Traditional

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

柬
柬 Sound component
jiǎn letter

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkeanXkˤr[a]nʔ select

Sources

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