琵琶骨
pí​pa​gǔ

scapula

琵 pí guitar-like instrument

Phonosemantic compound. 玨 represents the meaning and 比 represents the sound.

Components

玨
玨 Meaning component
jué two pieces of jade joined together
比
比 Sound component
bǐ to compare

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbi
Unicodebhi

說文解字

琵琶，樂器。从珡比聲。

Sources

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

琶 pá guitar-like instrument

Phonosemantic compound. 玨 represents the meaning and 巴 represents the sound.

Components

玨
玨 Meaning component
jué two pieces of jade joined together
巴
巴 Sound component
ba, bā to wish

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbraː
Unicodebha

說文解字

琵琶也。从珡巴聲。義當用枇杷。

Sources

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

骨 gǔ, gú bone

Pictograph of a bone (冎) with a muscle (肉) attached to it.

Components

冎
冎 SoundIconic component
guǎ bone
肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to 月.

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

Character Evolution

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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 21 verified)

骸髓骼骷髅骰體骶髁髋髂骱髌髑髀骺骯髒髕髏髖

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

滑猾鹘鶻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwotkˤut bone

說文解字

《說文》：“骨，肉之覈也。从冎，有肉。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.336
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)