柔情似水 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

róuqíngsìshuǐ

deeply attached

róu soft, flexible

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

Components

矛 Sound component

máo spear

Change in sound

柔 and 矛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
柔 *nu
矛 *m(r)u

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

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

揉蹂鞣糅猱

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyuw	nu	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)

qíng, qing feeling

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound.

Components

忄 Meaning component

xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

青 Sound component

qīng green or blue

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzjeng	[dz]eŋ	affections; response to circumstances

說文解字

《說文》：“情，人之陰氣有欲者。从心，青聲。”

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)

shì, sì resemble

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 以 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

以 Sound component

yǐ by means of

Change in sound

似 and 以 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
似 ziX
以 yiX

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ziX	sə.ləʔ	resemble

Sources

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

shuǐ water

Depicts the flow of water in a river.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (4 of 14 verified)

冰浆汞泵颍滕淼荥凼氽汆滎氹漿

Iconic (8)

益泰泉尿沓盥彔眔

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sywijX	s.turʔ (E dialect: -r > -j)	water; river

說文解字

《說文》：“水，準也。北方之行。象眾水並流，中有微陽之气也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.795
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)