柠檬鸡
níng​méng​jī

lemon chicken

柠 níng, chǔ, zhù lemon Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 宁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 檸.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
宁
宁 Sound component
níng, nìng peaceful, (storage container)

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtʰaʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

檬 méng type of locust oracacia

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

tree

蒙
蒙 Sound component
méng, mēng, měng cover

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmoːŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

鸡 jī chickens Simplified

Simplified from a variant form of the traditional character 雞.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand form of the 奚 component in the traditional character 雞.

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

檸 lemon Traditional

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

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
寧
寧 Sound component
níng, nìng peaceful

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrnaːŋʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

雞 jī chicken Traditional

Originally was a pictograph of a chicken. Later changed to a phonosemantic compound of 奚 and 隹 (bird).

Components

奚
奚 Sound component
xī where? what? how? why?
隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkejkˤe fowl, chicken

說文解字

《說文》：“雞，知時畜也。从隹，奚聲。鷄，籀文雞从鳥。”

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)