zhuǎ​chán

clawed frog

zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw

Pictograph of a hand or claw pointing downwards.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (2)

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsraewX[ts]ˤ<r>uʔ claw

說文解字

《說文》:“爪,也。覆手曰爪,象形。”

Sources

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

chán toad

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
Sound component
zhān, dàn talk too much

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtjam
djam
Unicodezhiɛm

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang