Bì​lǔ

Peru

secret, mysterious

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally written as . The component was later corrupted to .

Components

Simplified component
grain stalk

Corruption of the component in the original character .

Sound component
surely

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmpriɡs

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.6
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

lǔ, lǚ foolish, rude Simplified

Original meaning: tasty

Simplified form of . Depicts a fish () inside the mouth (). Based on the original meaning "tasty". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundIconic component
fish
Iconic component
gān sweetness

Depicts something inside the mouth.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

foolish, rude Traditional

Original meaning: tasty

Depicts a fish () inside the mouth (). Based on the original meaning "tasty". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

SoundIconic component
fish
Iconic component
gān sweetness

Depicts something inside the mouth.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartluX[r]ˤaʔ dull, blunt, simple
luXr.ŋˤaʔ (dialect > *rŋˤ- > *rˤ- > MC l-)(place name)

說文解字

《說文》:“魯,鈍詞也。从白,鮺省聲。《論語》曰:‘參也魯。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica