dī​là

wax play

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

wax Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
Sound component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzraːɡs
sʰaːɡs

說文解字

蠅䏣也。《周禮》:“蜡氏掌除骴。”从虫昔聲。

Sources

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

wax Traditional

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

Sound component
liè whiskers

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlapk.rˤap (no pre-Qín exx.)wax
Zhengzhangraːb
Unicodelɑp

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang