腋芽
yè​yá

axillary bud

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

芽 yá bud

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 牙 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

牙
牙 Sound component
yá tooth

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngæm-ɢˤ<r>ashoot, sprout
Zhengzhangŋraː
Unicodenga

說文解字

萌芽也。从艸牙聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)