昭然若揭
zhāo​rán​ruò​jiē

obvious

昭 zhāo, zhào bright

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 召 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
召
召 Sound component
zhào summon

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

照

Meaning (1)

照

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyewtaw bright

說文解字

《說文》：“昭，日明也。从日，召聲。”

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)

然 rán, ran yes

Original meaning: burn

Phonosemantic compound. 灬 represents the meaning and 肰 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "burn", now written as 燃. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

灬
灬 Meaning component
biāo, huǒ fire

灬 is a component form of 火.

肰
肰 Sound component
rán dog meat

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Component uses

Sound (1)

燃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyen[n]a[n] so, thus; (adv suffix)

說文解字

《說文》：“然，燒也。从火，肰聲。，或从艸、難。”

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)

若 ruò if

Original meaning: conform, obey

Pictograph of a kneeling person smoothing out their unkempt hair with their hands. Based on the original meaning "conform, obey". The 口 (mouth) component was added later when the character became more abstract.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts unkempt hair.

𠂇
𠂇 Iconic component
zuǒ left hand

Depicts a hand smoothing out the hair.

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

诺惹匿偌喏锘箬諾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknak you
nyaknak agree

說文解字

《說文》：“若，擇菜也。从艸、右。右，手也。一曰杜若，香艸。”

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)

揭 jiē raise

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

曷
曷 Sound component
hé, è, hè why? what? where?

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjetm-[k]<r>atlift, raise
gjotm-[k]atlift
khjejH[k]ʰ<r>at-slift up one’s clothes
khjet[k]ʰ<r>atlift
kjot[k]atlift
Zhengzhangkʰrads
ked
kʰrad
ɡrad
kad
ɡad

說文解字

高舉也。从手曷聲。

Sources

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