炼奶
liàn​nǎi

condensed milk

炼 liàn smelt Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 柬 represents the sound. Simplified form of 煉.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
柬
柬 Sound component
jiǎn letter

Shorthand derived from the cursive form of the traditional 柬 component.

Sources

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

奶 nǎi, nai milk

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 乃 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
乃
乃 SoundIconic component
nǎi then

Depicts a woman standing sideways with her breasts protruding.

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrneːlʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

煉 liàn smelt Traditional

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

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
柬
柬 Sound component
jiǎn letter

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·reːns

說文解字

《說文》：“煉，鑠治金也。从火，柬聲。”

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)