armpit

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

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Sound component
each

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkak[C.q]ˤakarmpit
Zhengzhangklaːɡ

說文解字

亦下也。从肉各聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

bo shoulders

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

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Sound component
fū, bù, fǔ state, announce

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphakpʰˤakdismember
Zhengzhangpʰaːɡ

說文解字

薄脯,膊之屋上。从肉尃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zhǒu elbow

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

Components

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

Originally depicted a bent arm, similar to . Later reanalyzed as , 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

wǎng, wàng go

Phonosemantic compound. and represent the meaning, and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chì, fú walk

is a component form of .

Meaning component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot. Abbreviated to a single stroke in the modern form.

Sound component
wáng king

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Remnant (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjwangXɢʷaŋʔ go to

說文解字

《說文》:“往,之也。从彳,聲。,古文从辵。”

Sources

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

wài outside

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Iconic component
bo fortune telling

Depicts the cracks on the outside of a turtle shell.

Sound component
yuè, yue moon

Looks like , which is also a pictograph of a moon.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngwajH[ŋ]ʷˤa[t]-s outside

說文解字

《說文》:“外,遠也。卜尚平旦,今夕卜,於事外矣。,古文外。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.555-556漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

guǎi kidnap

To take another  by force 

Components

Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand
Meaning component
lìng (bones), another

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡʷroːlʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang