肘腋
zhǒu​yè

armpit

肘 zhǒu elbow

Originally written similar to 九, which depicts an elbow. Later the ⺼ (meat, flesh) component was added.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh
寸
寸 Iconic component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Originally depicted a bent arm, similar to 九. Later reanalyzed as 寸, which depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrjuwXt-[k]<r>uʔ elbow

說文解字

《說文》：“肘，臂節也。从肉，从寸。寸，手寸口也。”

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)

腋 yè armpit

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 夜 represents the sound. Originally written as 亦.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

夜
夜 Sound component
yè night

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyek[ɢ](r)Ak armpit

Sources

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