棺椁
guān​guǒ

coffin

棺 guān coffin

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

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
官
官 Sound component
guān official

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwankʷˤa[n]inner coffin
Zhengzhangkoːn
koːns
Unicodeguɑn

說文解字

關也。所以掩尸。从木官聲。

Sources

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

椁 guǒ outer-coffin Simplified

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

wood

享
享 Unknown component
xiǎng enjoy

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʷaːɡ

說文解字

葬有木𩫏也。从木𩫏聲。

Sources

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

槨 outer-coffin Traditional

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

wood

郭
郭 Sound component
guō, guó outer part (of a city)

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwakkʷˤakouter coffin
Zhengzhangkʷaːɡ

Sources

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