qī​diāo

carved lacquerware

varnish

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally written as , which depicts lacquer or sap oozing out from a varnish tree ().

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
varnish tree, lacquer

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshit[tsʰ]i[t] varnish tree

說文解字

《說文》:“漆,水。出右扶風杜陵岐山,東入渭。一曰入洛。从水,桼聲。”

Sources

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

diāo engrave

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

Components

Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
Sound component
zhōu cycle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttewtˤiwbird of prey
Zhengzhangtɯːw
Unicodedeu

說文解字

鷻也。从隹周聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica