柔媚
róu​mèi

charming

柔 róu soft, flexible

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound and 木 represents the meaning.

Components

矛
矛 Sound component
máo spear
Change in sound
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

揉蹂鞣糅猱

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

揉鞣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuwnu soft

說文解字

《說文》：“柔，木曲直也。从木，矛聲。”

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)

媚 mèi charming

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman

woman

眉
眉 Sound component
méi eyebrows

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmijHmrəjʔ-slove; flatter
Zhengzhangmrils
Unicodemyì

說文解字

說也。从女眉聲。

Sources

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