椭球
tuǒ​qiú

ellipsoid

椭 tuǒ oval-shaped Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 陏 represents the sound. Simplified form of 橢.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
陏
陏 Sound component
suí, duò follow

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

球 qiú ball

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 求 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

求
求 Sound component
qiú seek

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjuw[g](r)[u] 'ball'?

說文解字

《說文》：“球，玉聲也。从玉，求聲。璆，球或从翏。”

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)

橢 tuǒ oval-shaped Traditional

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

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
隋
隋 Sound component
suí, duò, tuǒ Sui dynasty

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthwaXl̥ ˤojʔoval
Zhengzhangl̥ʰoːlʔ

說文解字

車笭中橢橢器也。从木隋聲。

Sources

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