糊弄
hù​nong

deceive

糊 hu, hú muddled, paste

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 胡 represents the sound.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
胡
胡 Sound component
hú beard

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthuCə.[g]ˤa
(~ *C.[g]ˤa; no pre-Qín exx.)		to paste (v.)

Sources

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

弄 nòng fiddle with

Depicts a pair of hands (廾) playing with a jade object (玉).

Components

玉
玉 Iconic component
yù jade
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartluwngH[r]ˤoŋ-s manipulate, play with

說文解字

《說文》：“弄，玩也。从廾持玉。”

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)