矮茎朱砂根
ǎi​jīng​zhū​shā​gēn

short-stem ardisia

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)

茎 jīng stem Simplified

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

grass

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

朱 zhū, shū red pigment

Original meaning: tree trunk

Pictograph of a tree (木) with a mark indicating where the trunk is. Based on the original meaning "tree trunk", now written as 株. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

木
木 Iconic component
mù tree
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

mark indicating the location of the tree's trunk


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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

Component uses

Sound (2 of 14 verified)

殊珠株蛛诛铢侏茱洙姝邾硃銖誅

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

硃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuto dwarf
tsyuto red

說文解字

《說文》：“朱，赤心木，松柏屬。从木，一在其中。”

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)

砂 shā sand

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
少
少 SoundIconic component
shǎo, shao, shào few

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsraːl
Unicodeshra

Sources

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

根 gēn root

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

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 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-Sagartkon[k]ˤə[r] root, trunk

說文解字

《說文》：“根，木株也。从木，艮聲。”

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)

莖 jīng stem Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 巠 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

巠
巠 Sound component
jīng warp (textile)

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartheangm-k-lˤ<r>eŋ stalk (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“莖，枝柱也。从艸，巠聲。”

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)