汽笛
qì​dí

whistle

汽 qì steam

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 气 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

气
气 SoundMeaning component
qì, qi air

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰɯds

說文解字

《說文》：“汽，水涸也。或曰泣下。从水，气聲。《詩》曰：‘汽可小康。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

笛 dí bamboo flute

A bamboo ⺮ flute 由

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo
由
由 Meaning component
yóu cause

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdeklˤiwkflute
Zhengzhangl'ɯːwɢ
Unicodedhek

說文解字

七孔筩也。从竹由聲。羌笛三孔。

Sources

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