瞭
liǎoliào HSK1

bright

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

Components

目
目 Meaning component
mù eye
尞
尞 Sound component
liào, liáo burnt offering

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːw
reːwʔ
Unicodeleu
lěu

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

了 le, liǎo, liào finish Simplified

Original meaning: armless child

Pictograph of a young child, similar to 子, but without arms. Compare to 孑 (child only with right arm) and 孓 (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

子
子 IconicRemnant component
zi, zǐ child

A child (子) without arms.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːwʔ
Unicodeleǔ
leǔ

說文解字

《說文》:“了,尦也。从子無臂,象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.972
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica