狐步舞
hú​bù​wǔ

foxtrot

狐 hú species of fox

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 瓜 represents the sound.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

瓜
瓜 Sound component
guā melon

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthu[ɡ]ʷˤafox
Zhengzhangɡʷaː
Unicodeho

說文解字

䄏獸也。鬼所乘之。有三徳：其色中和，小前大後，死則丘首。从犬瓜聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

步 bù step

Pictograph of one foot in front of another, depicting footsteps.

Components

止
止 Iconic component
zhǐ (foot), stop
𣥂
𣥂 Iconic component
tà (foot), to trample

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

陟歲

Iconic (1)

涉

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

埗

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbuHmə-bˤa-s step

說文解字

《說文》：“步，行也。从止，相背。”

Sources

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

舞 wǔ dance

Originally written as 無, which is a pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. The 舛 (two feet) component was later added to emphasize the action of dancing after 無 was phonetically borrowed for different meanings.

Components

舛
舛 Iconic component
chuǎn oppose

Depicts two feet.

無
無 SoundIconicRemnant component
wú negative

Depicts a person dancing with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuXk.m(r)aʔ dance (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“舞，樂也。用足相背。从舛，舞聲。，古文舞从羽、亡。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.472林志強《《文源》評注》p.203
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)