挖坑
wā​kēng

dig

挖 wā dig

To dig out 扌 a hollow 穵; 穵 also provides the pronunciation

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand
穵
穵 SoundMeaning component
wā, yà deep hollow

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqʷriːd

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

坑 kēng pit

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 亢 represents the sound. Simplified form of 阬.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
亢
亢 Sound component
kàng, gāng, gēng high

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰraːŋ
Unicodekæng

Sources

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