眼泪
yǎn​lèi HSK4

tears

眼 yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

目
目 Meaning component
mù eye
艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngonXŋˤə[n]ʔ protrude as a knob
ngeanX[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ eye

說文解字

《說文》：“眼，目也。从目，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)

泪 lèi tears Simplified

Simplified form of 淚. Depicts drops of water (氵) coming from the eye (目).

Components

氵
氵 Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica

淚 lèi tears Traditional

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

戾
戾 Sound component
lì bend, violate, transgress

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlwijH[r][ə]p-s tears (n.)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica