灯谜
dēng​mí

lantern riddle

灯 dēng lantern Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燈.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

谜 mí, mèi riddle Simplified

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

燈 dēng lantern Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 登 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
登
登 Sound component
dēng rise

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttongk-tˤəŋ lamp

Sources

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

謎 riddle Traditional

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmiː
miːs

說文解字

《說文新附》：“謎，隱語也。从言、迷，迷亦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)