mèi​mò

obscure

mèi obscure

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
sun
Sound component
wèi not yet

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmwojHmˤ[u][t]-sdusk; dark
Zhengzhangmɯːds
Unicodemə̀i

說文解字

爽,旦明也。从日未聲。一曰闇也。

Sources

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

méi, mò not have Simplified

Original meaning: reach into the water to grab something

Simplified form of . Depicts a hand reaching in the water to grab something. The meaning later expanded to "drown", "disappear", and "not have".

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

huí return

Depicts the rippling surface of water.

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle Chinese
Unicodemət

說文解字

《說文》:“沒,沈也。从水,从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.208-209
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

méi, mò not have Traditional

Original meaning: reach into the water to grab something

Depicts a hand reaching in the water to grab something. The meaning later expanded to "drown", "disappear", and "not have".

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Iconic component
huí return

Depicts the rippling surface of water.

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

Depicts a hand.

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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Meaning (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmwotmˤut to dive, drown, die

說文解字

《說文》:“沒,沈也。从水,从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.208-209
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica