祝融
Zhù​róng

fire god

祝 zhù pray for happiness or blessings

Depicts a kneeling person (卩) in front of a memorial tablet (礻) opening their mouth (口) to pray.

Components

礻
礻 Iconic component
shì show

礻 is a component form of 示. Depicts a memorial tablet used for spiritual rituals

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts a mouth open to pray.

卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Depicts a person kneeling.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyuwH[t]uk-s to curse
tsyuwk[t]uk pray, recite
tsyuwktuk cut off, break

說文解字

《說文》：“祝，祭主贊詞者。从示，从人、口。一曰从兌省。《易》曰：‘兌，為口為巫。’”

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)

融 róng melt

Components

鬲
鬲 Meaning component
gé, lì, è type of cauldron with three hollow legs

cauldron melting

虫
虫 Sound component
chóng bug, insect

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyuwngluŋ (? < *lum)hot air, steam, heat

說文解字

《說文》：“融，炊气上出也。从鬲，蟲省聲。籀文融不省。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)