dī​dā

dripping

drip

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and represents the meaning.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

Sound component
dì, shì, zhāi stalk, stem, root

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangteːɡ
Unicodedek

說文解字

《說文》:“滴,水注也。从水,啻聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

dá, dā answer

Original meaning: small bean

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "small bean". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "small bean", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
to join
Change in sound

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttop[t]ˤ[u]p answer

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.68
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart