máo, mào, wù a kind of ancient flag

A flag  made of fur also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
fāng, fang square
SoundMeaning component
máo, mao hair

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmawmˤawox-tail pennon
Zhengzhangmaːw
maːws
Unicodemɑu

說文解字

幢也。从㫃从毛,毛亦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

ní, nì, niè feeble

A young child 

Components

Meaning component
rén person
Meaning component
r, ér son

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngejŋˤeyoung and weak
Zhengzhangŋeː

說文解字

俾也。从人兒聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica