cāo​gū

write

cāo grasp, control

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

is a component form of .

Sound component
zào, sào, qiāo chirping of birds

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 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]ˤawʔ grasp (v.)
tshawH[tsʰ]ˤawʔ-s (what is grasped:) principles

說文解字

《說文》:“操,把持也。从手,喿聲。”

Sources

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

jug

Components

Meaning component
jiǎo, jué horn

horn

Sound component
guā melon

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʷaː

說文解字

鄉飮酒之爵也。一曰觴受三升者謂之觚。从角瓜聲。

Sources

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