fǔ​chòu

putrid

fǔ, fu rotten, decay

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and represents the meaning.

Components

Sound component
government
Meaning component
ròu meat

meat

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbjuX[b](r)oʔ rotten

說文解字

《說文》:“腐,爛也。从肉,府聲。”

Sources

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

chòu smell

Components

Meaning component
(nose), self
Meaning component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyhuwHt-qʰu(ʔ)-s odor, to stink (intransitive)?
xjuwHqʰu(ʔ)-s odor, to stink (intransitive)?

說文解字

《說文》:“臭,禽走臭而知其迹者,犬也。从犬,从自。”

Sources

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