脊灰
jǐ​huī

polio

脊 jí spine

Originally was a pictograph of a fish spine. Later changed into a phonosemantic compound with ⺼ representing the meaning and 朿 representing the sound.

Components

朿
朿 Sound component
cì thorn, stab
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 朿 than it was in ancient scripts.
⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

瘠嵴鹡鶺

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

嵴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjek[ts]ek spine, backbone

說文解字

《說文》：“脊，背呂也。从，从肉。”

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)

灰 huī ashes

Depicts a hand (又) picking ashes left over from a fire (火).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

恢盔诙咴詼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwojm̥ˤə ashes

說文解字

《說文》：“灰，死火餘也。从火，从又。又，手也。火既滅，可以執持。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.890
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)