滑铁卢
Huá​tiě​lú

defeat

滑 huá, hua slip, slide

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

骨
骨 Sound component
gǔ, gú bone
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthweatNə-gˤrut slippery

說文解字

《說文》：“滑，利也。从水，骨聲。”

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)

铁 tiě iron Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 失 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鐵.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

失
失 Sound component
shī lose
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

卢 lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel Simplified

Original meaning: stove

Simplified form of 盧. Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as 爐. The 虍 and 皿 components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

虍
虍 SoundSimplified component
hū tiger
Change in sound
◎
◎ IconicSimplified component
characterless component

Depicts a stove.

盧
皿 Deleted component
mǐn, mǐng dish

The traditional component 皿 was removed for simplification.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 9 verified)

颅鲈鸬胪泸舻轳栌垆

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

垆

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

鐵 tiě iron Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 𢧤 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal
𢧤
𢧤 Sound component
zhì big

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartthetl̥ˤik iron

說文解字

《說文》：“鐵，黑金也。从金，聲。，鐵或省。銕，古文鐵从夷。”

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)

盧 rice vessel Traditional

Original meaning: stove

Originally a pictograph of a stove, based on the original meaning "stove", now written as 爐. The 虍 and 皿 components were added later. In modern Mandarin this character is usually only used for its sound in foreign loan words.

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
Change in sound
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a stove. Unrelated to 田.

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
Change in meaning
皿 hints at the original meaning of 盧, "stove", which is no longer the most common meaning of 盧 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 12 verified)

顱膚蘆驢臚鑪鸕瀘廬鱸爐轤

Remnant (1)

膚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangb·raː
Unicodelo

說文解字

《說文》：“盧，飲器也。从皿，聲。，籀文盧。”

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)