珊瑚潭
shān​hú​tán

coral lake

珊 shān coral

Phonosemantic compound. 王 represents the meaning and 册 represents the sound.

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king
册
册 Sound component
cè book

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangslaːn
Unicodesɑn

說文解字

珊瑚，色赤，生於海，或生於山。从玉，刪省聲。

Sources

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

瑚 hú coral

Phonosemantic compound. 王 represents the meaning and 胡 represents the sound.

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king
胡
胡 Sound component
hú beard

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡaː
Unicodeho

說文解字

珊瑚也。从玉胡聲。

Sources

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

潭 tán deep pool

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

覃
覃 Sound component
tán, qín, yǎn reach to

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdom[l]ˤ[ə]mdeep, pond
Zhengzhangl'ɯːm
lɯmʔ
Unicodedhom

說文解字

水。出武陵鐔成玉山，東入鬱林。从水覃聲。

Sources

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