稀粥
xī​zhōu

gruel

稀 xī rare

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 希 represents the sound.

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
希
希 Sound component
xī hope

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanghlɯl
Unicodexiəi

說文解字

䟽也。从禾希聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

粥 zhōu rice gruel, porridge

Depicts porridge being made from rice (米) around hot rising steam. Derived from 鬻.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts hot steam rising.

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwkt-quk gruel

說文解字

《說文》：“鬻，也。从，米聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.612zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)