硝酸钾
xiāo​suān​jiǎ

potassium nitrate

硝 xiāo saltpeter

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 肖 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
肖
肖 Sound component
xiào look like

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsew

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

酸 suān sour, tart

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 夋 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
夋
夋 Sound component
qūn to dawdle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartswan[s]ˤor sour

說文解字

《說文》：“酸，酢也。从酉，夋聲。關東謂酢曰酸。，籀文酸从畯。”

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)

钾 jiǎ, gé potassium kalium Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 钅 represents the meaning and 甲 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鉀.

Components

钅
钅 Meaning component
jīn metal

钅 is a component form of 金.

甲
甲 Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鉀 potassium kalium Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 釒 represents the meaning and 甲 represents the sound.

Components

釒
釒 Meaning component
jīn metal

釒 is a component form of 金.

甲
甲 Sound component
jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangklaːb
kraːb

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica