背鳍
bèi​qí

dorsal fin

背 bèi, bēi back

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

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

北
北 SoundMeaning component
běi north

北 also serves as a meaning component.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

褙揹

Meaning (1)

揹

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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鳍 qí fin Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鱼 represents the meaning and 耆 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鰭.

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish
耆
耆 Sound component
qí, zhǐ, shì man of sixty

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鰭 fin Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 魚 represents the meaning and 耆 represents the sound.

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish
耆
耆 Sound component
qí, zhǐ, shì man of sixty

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgij[ɡ]rijdorsal fin of a fish
Zhengzhangɡri

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang