玳瑁壳
dài​mào​ké

tortoiseshell

玳 dài tortoise shell

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king

jade

代
代 Sound component
dài replace

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangl'ɯːɡs
Unicodedhə̀i

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

瑁 mào fine piece of jade

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king

jade

冒
冒 Sound component
mào risk

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmuːɡs
mɯːɡs
muːɡ
Unicodemɑ̀u
mə̀i

說文解字

諸侯執圭朝天子，天子執玉以冒之，似犂冠。《周禮》曰：“天子執瑁四寸。”从玉、冒，冒亦聲。

Sources

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

壳 ké, qiào casing Simplified

Simplified form of 殼. Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

㱿
㱿 SoundRemnant component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above
几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

Sources

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

殼 ké, qiào casing Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

㱿
㱿 Sound component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhaewk[kʰ]ˤrok hollow shell, hollow

Sources

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