yù​hé​bāo

lychee cultivar

jade

Pictograph of a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string. A dot was later added to to distinguish it from (king).

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string.

zhǔ dot

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 Late Shang ~1100 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Iconic (3)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjowk[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?) jade

說文解字

《說文》:“玉,石之美。有五德:潤澤以溫,仁之方也;理自外,可以知中,義之方也;其聲舒揚,專以遠聞,智之方也;不橈而折,勇之方也;銳廉而不技,絜之方也。象三玉之連,丨,其貫也。,古文玉。”

Sources

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

lotus

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
what

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartha[ɡ]ˤajlotus
haX[ɡ]ˤajʔcarry
Zhengzhangqʰaːls
ɡaːl
ɡaːlʔ
Unicode
hɑ̌

說文解字

芙蕖葉。从艸何聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

bāo wrap

Original meaning: to embrace

Depicts a person () hugging a child (). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".

Components

SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person hugging. also represents the sound.

Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child. Modern form looks like .

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

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 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

Component uses

Sound (6 of 24 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaewpˤ<r>u wrap, bundle

說文解字

《說文》:“包,象人褢妊,巳在中,象子未成形也。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica