矮呆病
ǎi​dāi​bìng

cretinism

矮 ǎi short

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

Components

矢
矢 Meaning component
shǐ arrow
委
委 Sound component
wěi bent, winding

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqraːlʔ

說文解字

《說文新附》：“矮，短人也。从矢，委聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

呆 dāi dull, stupid

Depicts the mouth (口) being stuck and not moving, like wood (木), representing someone stupid or expressionless.

Components

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
木
木 Iconic component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtɯː
ŋɯː

Sources

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

病 bìng illness

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 丙 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
丙
丙 Sound component
bǐng third

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjaengH[b]raŋ-s extreme illness

說文解字

《說文》：“病，疾加也。从疒，丙聲。”

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)