lòu​yóu

boo

lòu leak

Originally written as , which depicts rainwater () leaking through a house roof (). The (water) component was added later to clarify the meaning.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

SoundIconic component
lòu to leak

Depicts rainwater () leaking through a house roof ().

Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartluwH[Nə-r]ˤok-s leak (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“漏,以銅受水刻節,晝夜百刻。从水,屚聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.1011, 1025許進雄《新編進階甲骨文字典: 甲骨文發現120周年紀念版》p.204
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yóu oil

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
yóu cause

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyuw[l][u] flow(ing)

說文解字

《說文》:“油,水。出武陵孱陵西,東南〔北〕入江。从水,由聲。”

Sources

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