dī​guǎn

drip tube

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

guǎn pipe

Original meaning: musical tube made of bamboo

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally a musical tube made of bamboo. The meaning "to manage" is a phonetic loan.

Components

Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of .

Sound component
guān official

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkwanX[k]ˤo[n]ʔ tube; flute
kwanXkʷˤa[n]ʔ exhausted, helpless
kwanXkʷˤa[n]ʔ helpless

說文解字

《說文》:“管,如箎,六孔,十二月之音,物開地牙,故謂之管。从竹,官聲。琯,古者玉琯以玉。舜之時,西王母來獻其白琯。前零陵文學姓奚,於伶道舜祠下得笙玉琯。夫以玉作音,故神人以和,鳳皇來儀也。从玉,官聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica