yǎn​wō

eye socket

yǎn eye

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
eye
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

nest Simplified

Components

Meaning component
xué, jué cave

cave

Sound component
guō, wāi, hé chat

Sources

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

nest Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
xué, jué cave
Sound component
chat

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqloːl

Sources

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