番泻叶
fān​xiè​yè

senna leaf

番 fān to take turns

Original meaning: animal's paw

Depicts an animal's claw (釆) with their paw shown. 釆 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "animal's paw", now written as 蹯. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

釆
釆 SoundIconic component
biàn, biǎn distinguish

Used here to depict an animal's claw.

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts an animal's paw. Modern form looks like unrelated 田.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

翻播潘幡蕃蟠燔鄱皤蹯

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

燔

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpapˤar martial
phjonpʰar a turn, a time

說文解字

《說文》：“番，獸足謂之番。从采，田象其掌。番或从足、从煩。，古文番。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.89
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

泻 xiè drain off Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 写 represents the sound. Simplified form of 瀉.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

写
写 Sound component
xiě write

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

叶 yè be in harmony, leaf Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 十 represents the sound. Originally a variant of 協 (cooperate). Later used as the simplified form of the phonetically similar character 葉 (leaf).

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Based on the meaning "cooperate", "be in harmony". Unrelated to "leaf".

十
十 Sound component
shí ten
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

瀉 drain off Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 寫 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

寫
寫 Sound component
xiě write

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjæXs-qʰAʔto drain off
Zhengzhangsjaːʔ
sjaːɡs
Unicodesiǎ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

葉 yè leaf Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 枼 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

枼
枼 SoundMeaning component
yè leaf

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyepl[a]p leaf

說文解字

《說文》：“葉，艸木之葉也。从艸，枼聲。”

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)