白顶玄鸥
bái​dǐng​xuán'ōu

brown noddy

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)

顶 dǐng top Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 页 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. Simplified form of 頂.

Components

丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes
页
页 Meaning component
yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

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

玄 xuán, xuàn black

Originally the same character as 幺. Similar to 幺, with an distinguishing mark at the top.

Components

亠
亠 Distinguishing component
tóu head
幺
幺 Iconic component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 10 verified)

畜弦眩舷炫铉泫痃牽鉉

Iconic (2)

鲧鯀

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwen[ɢ]ʷˤi[n] dark

說文解字

《說文》：“玄，幽遠也。黑而有赤色者為玄。象幽而入覆之也。，古文玄。”

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)

鸥 ōu seagull Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 区 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鷗.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
区
区 Sound component
qū area

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

頂 dǐng top Traditional

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

Components

丁
丁 Sound component
dīng cubes
頁
頁 Meaning component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttengXtˤeŋʔ top of the head

說文解字

《說文》：“頂，顛也。从頁，丁聲。，或从作。，籀文从鼎。”

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)

鷗 ōu seagull Traditional

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

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
區
區 Sound component
qū area

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqoː
Unicodeqou

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica