白头硬尾鸭
bái​tóu​yìng​wěi​yā

white-headed duck

白 bái, bai white

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (8 of 15 verified)

百怕伯迫拍帕柏泊舶魄珀帛粕铂樂

Meaning (2 of 13 verified)

的珀皓皖皑皋皙皎皤皅皦皒皚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbaekbˤrak white

說文解字

《說文》：“白，西方色也。陰用事，物色白。从入合二。二，陰數。，古文白。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.625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)

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆
豆 SoundSimplified component
dòu bean
頁
頁 IconicSimplified component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

硬 yìng hard

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 更 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
更
更 Sound component
gèng, gēng more

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangŋɡraːŋs
ŋɡraːŋs
Unicodengɛ̀ng

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

尾 wěi tail

Depicts fur (毛) protruding from the posterior of a person (尸) wearing a decorative tail.

Components

尸
尸 Iconic component
shī sitting person

Depicts a person sitting or squatting.

毛
毛 Iconic component
máo, mao hair

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

属屈艉屬

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

犀娓艉

Remnant (1)

屈

Iconic (1)

隶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmj+jX[m]əjʔ tail

說文解字

《說文》：“尾，微也。从到毛在尸後。古人或飾系尾，西南夷亦然。”

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)

鸭 yā duck Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 甲 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鴨.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
甲
甲 Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Sources

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

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)

鴨 yā duck Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 甲 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
甲
甲 Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqraːb
Unicodeqap

說文解字

《說文新附》：“鴨，鶩也。俗謂之鴨。从鳥，甲聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)