欲取姑予

欲 yù desire

Phonosemantic compound. 欠, depicting a person with an open mouth, represents the meaning, while 谷 represents the sound.

Components

欠
欠 Meaning component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person with an open mouth.

谷
谷 Sound component
gǔ valley, ravine

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

Component uses

Sound (1)

慾

Meaning (1)

慾

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyowkɢ(r)ok desire (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“欲，貪欲也。从欠，谷聲。”

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)

取 qǔ take

Pictograph of a hand (又) grabbing an ear (耳). In ancient China, the ears of opponents in battle were cut off and collected as tokens of victory.

Components

耳
耳 Iconic component
ěr ear
又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (8 of 12 verified)

最趣聚娶诹鲰陬叢齱㝡鯫冣

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

娶诹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshuwXtsʰˤoʔ take
tshjuXtsʰoʔ take
tshjuH[ts]ʰoʔ-s take (a wife)

說文解字

《說文》：“取，捕取也。从又，从耳。《周禮》：‘獲者取左耳。’《司馬法》曰：‘載獻聝。’聝者，耳也。”

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)

姑 gū, gu father's sister

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 古 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
古
古 Sound component
gǔ old

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

菇

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkukˤa father's sister

說文解字

《說文》：“姑，夫母也。从女，古聲。”

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)

予 yǔ give

Embellishment of the phonetically similar character 呂.

Components

呂
呂 Sound component
pitchpipe
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 呂 than it was in ancient scripts.
亅
亅 Distinguishing component
jué hook

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 10 verified)

预序野舒豫纾杼預妤紓

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

抒纾紓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyolaʔ I, we
yoXlaʔ give; together with

說文解字

《說文》：“予，推予也。象相予之形。”

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)