法库 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

Fǎkù

Faku

fǎ, fa law

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Originally written as 灋.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

Likely alludes to water always flowing in a given path, or water always being flat and level.

去 Sound component

qù go away

Change in sound

法 and 去 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
法 *[p.k]ap
去 *[kʰ](r)aʔ

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Qin 221-206 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

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

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	pjop	[p.k]ap	model, law

說文解字

《說文》：“灋，刑也。平之如水，从水；廌，所以觸不直者，去之，从去。法，今文省。佱，古文。”

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)

kù armory Simplified

Simplified form of 庫. Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 車 represents the sound.

Components

广 Meaning component

guǎng roof

车 Sound component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

库 and 车 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
库 khuH
车 kjo

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

kù armory Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 車 represents the sound.

Components

广 Meaning component

guǎng roof

車 Sound Meaning component

chē cart, vehicle

Change in sound

庫 and 車 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
庫 khuH
車 kjo

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	khuH	[k]ʰˤa-s	arsenal; storehouse

說文解字

《說文》：“庫，兵車藏也。从車，在广下。”

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)