捞稻草
lāo​dào​cǎo

clutch at straws

捞 lāo scoop out of water Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 劳 represents the sound. Simplified form of 撈.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

劳
劳 Sound component
láo labor

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

稻 dào rice growing in field

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

grain

舀
舀 Sound component
yǎo to scoop up

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdawX[l]ˤuʔrice, paddy
Zhengzhangl'uːʔ
Unicodedhɑ̀u

說文解字

稌也。从禾舀聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

草 cǎo grass

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 早 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 SoundMeaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

早
早 Sound component
zǎo early

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ grass, plants
tshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ rough, coarse

說文解字

草斗，櫟實也。一曰象斗子。从艸早聲。

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)

撈 lāo scoop out of water Traditional

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

勞
勞 Sound component
láo labor

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangraːw
reːw

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang