淡薄
dàn​bó

faint

淡 dàn weak, bland, watery

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

炎
炎 Sound component
yán flame

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdamX[l]ˤamʔ insipid

說文解字

《說文》：“淡，薄味也。从水，炎聲。”

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)

薄 báo, bó thin, slight

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 溥 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

溥
溥 Sound component
pǔ, fū, bù vast, extensive

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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)

礴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbak[b]ˤak thin

說文解字

《說文》：“薄，林薄也。一曰蠶薄。从艸，溥聲。”

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)