niǔ​kǎ​sù

Newcastle

niǔ knot, button Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly

Sources

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

stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above () and something below (). The uses of to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

Iconic component
shàng, shang up
Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Sources

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

raw silk, white, plain

Depicts raw silk () hanging from a rack.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a rack.

Iconic component
mì, sī silk

Depicts raw silk.


Character Evolution

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 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
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsuH[s]ˤak-s white silk

說文解字

《說文》:“素,白緻繒也。从糸、,取其澤也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.891-892
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

niǔ knot, button Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnrjuwXn<r>uʔ fastener

說文解字

《說文》:“紐,系也。一曰結而可解。从糸,丑聲。”

Sources

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