横卧
héng​wò

recline

横 héng across Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 橫.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黄
黄 Sound component
huáng yellow

說文解字

闌木也。从木黃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

卧 wò lie down Simplified

Variant form of 臥. Depicts a person (人) with their eye (臣) leaning forward preparing to lie down and sleep.

Components

臣
臣 Iconic component
chén minister

Depicts an eye.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Current form looks like 卜.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

橫 héng across Traditional

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

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
黃
黃 Sound component
huáng yellow

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwængC.ɡʷˤraŋcrosswise; horizontal
Zhengzhangɡʷraːŋ
ɡʷraːŋs
kʷaːŋ
Unicodehuæng
guɑ̀ng

Sources

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

臥 wò lie down Traditional

Depicts a person (人) with their eye (臣) leaning forward preparing to lie down and sleep.

Components

臣
臣 Iconic component
chén minister

Depicts an eye.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngwaH[ŋ]ˤ[o]j-s lie down, sleep

說文解字

《說文》：“臥，休也。从人、臣，取其伏也。”

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)