bèi​yǒng

backstroke

bèi, bēi back

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
běi north

also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbwojHm-pˤək-s turn the back on
pwojHpˤək-s the back

說文解字

《說文》:“背,也。从肉,北聲。”

Sources

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

yǒng swim

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
yǒng long

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjwaengH[ɢ]ʷraŋ(ʔ)-s go in water, wade

說文解字

《說文》:“泳,潛行水中也。从水,永聲。”

Sources

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