短吻鳄
duǎn​wěn'è

alligator

短 duǎn short

Phonosemantic compound. 矢 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

矢
矢 Meaning component
shǐ arrow
豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttwanXtˤorʔ short

說文解字

《說文》：“短，有所長短，以矢為正。从矢，豆聲。”

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)

吻 wěn kiss

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Simplified form of 脗.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
勿
勿 Sound component
wù, mò must not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmɯnʔ
Unicodemiə̌n

說文解字

口邊也。从口勿聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鳄 è alligator Simplified

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish

fish

咢
咢 Sound component
è sound

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鱷 è crocodile Traditional

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish

fish

噩
噩 Sound component
è bad

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋaːɡ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang