穹
qióng

high and vast

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 弓 represents the sound.

Components

穴
穴 Meaning component
xué, jué cave
弓
弓 Sound component
gōng bow

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰʷɯŋ
Unicodekiung

說文解字

窮也。从穴弓聲。

Sources

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