牡羊座
Mǔ​yáng​zuò

Aries

牡 mǔ male of animals

Depicts a cow (牛) with a penis (丄). In oracle bone script the animals varied in depiction, such as a pig (豕), a deer (鹿), sheep (羊), horse (馬), etc.

Components

牛
牛 Iconic component
niú cow
丄
丄 Iconic component
shàng above

Depicts a penis.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丄 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 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-SagartmuwXm(r)uʔ male

說文解字

《說文》：“牡，畜父也。从牛，土聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.91-92
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

羊 yáng sheep

Pictograph of the head of a sheep with horns.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (9 of 22 verified)

样养洋详祥氧翔痒佯羌恙庠烊羟養蛘徉羰詳羕鯗羥

Meaning (5 of 11 verified)

义群善姜羚咩羯義羝羴羍

Iconic (7)

美羞羡羌羔茍羨

Simplified (2)

样义

Remnant (1)

茍

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyangɢaŋ sheep

說文解字

《說文》：“羊，祥也。从，象頭角足尾之形。孔子曰：牛羊之字，以形舉也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.298
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

座 zuò seat

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 坐 represents the sound.

Components

广
广 Meaning component
guǎng roof
坐
坐 SoundMeaning component
zuò sit

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwaH[dz]ˤo[j]ʔ-s seat n.

Sources

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