睪丸
gāo​wán

testicle

睪 yì spy on

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and a remnant of 射 represents the sound.

Components

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Depicts an eye spying.

射
射 SoundRemnant component
shè shoot

Modern form looks like 幸. Originally the 矢 in 射.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 射 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 7 verified)

釋譯驛擇澤嶧繹

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“睪，目視也。从橫目，从，令吏將目捕罪人也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.773-774劉釗《古文字構形學》p.87-88
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

丸 wán small round object

Derived from 夗. Pictograph of a dying animal lying down. The meaning later shifted to "small round object", "pellet" and "pill".

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

芄纨紈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwan[ɢ]ʷˤar pellet; ball
hwanɦʷˤar (< *[ɢ]ʷˤar)烏丸 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“丸，圜，傾側而轉者。从反仄。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.726劉釗《古文字構形學》p.128
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)