猜拳
cāi​quán

finger-guessing

猜 cāi guess

Original meaning: viciously resent

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound. Meanings derived from resentful suspicion.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭(dog, animal) signifies animalistic sentiment.

Change in meaning
犭 hints at the original meaning of 猜, "viciously resent", which is no longer the most common meaning of 猜 in modern Mandarin.
青
青 Sound component
qīng green or blue
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“猜，恨賊也。从犬，青聲。”

Sources

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

拳 quán fist

Components

龹
龹 Sound component
juǎn to roll rice into a ball
手
手 Meaning component
shǒu, shou hand

hand

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgjwenN-kro[n]fist (< rolled-up hand)
Zhengzhangɡron
Unicodeghyuɛn

說文解字

手也。从手聲。

Sources

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