玩笑话
wán​xiào​huà

joke

玩 wán play

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 元 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

元
元 Sound component
yuán first

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngwanH[ŋ]ˤo[n]-s plaything

說文解字

《說文》：“玩，弄也。从玉，元聲。貦，玩或从貝。”

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)

笑 xiào smile

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 夭 represents the sound.

Components

⺮
⺮ Unknown component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹. The original connection of this component to "laugh" is unclear.

夭
夭 Sound component
yāo, wò, wāi die young

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 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-SagartsjewH[s-l]aw-s to laugh

說文解字

《說文新附》：“此字本闕。臣鉉等案：孫愐《唐韻》引《說文》云‘喜也，从竹，从犬’，而不述其義。今俗皆从犬。又案：李陽冰刊定《說文》‘从竹，从夭’，義云‘竹得風其體夭屈如人之笑’。未知其審。”

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)

话 huà, hua speech Simplified

Simplified form of 話. Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like 舌.

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

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

話 huà, hua speech Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 𠯑 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
𠯑
𠯑 Sound component
guā block the mouth

Modern form looks like 舌.

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

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthwaejH[g]ʷˤrat-s speak; words

說文解字

《說文》：“，合會善言也。从言，聲。《傳》曰：‘告之話言。’譮，籀文从會。”

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)