腐蚀
fǔ​shí HSK7

corrode

腐 fǔ, fu rotten, decay

Phonosemantic compound. 府 represents the sound and 肉 represents the meaning.

Components

府
府 Sound component
fǔ government
肉
肉 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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蚀 shí nibble away Simplified

An insect 虫 bite 饣; 饣 also provides the pronunciation

Components

饣
饣 SoundMeaning component
shí eat
虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蝕 shí nibble away Traditional

An insect 虫 bite 飠; 飠 also provides the pronunciation

Components

飠
飠 SoundMeaning component
eat
虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzyikmə-lək(eat:) eclipse
Zhengzhangɦljɯɡ
Unicodejhiək

Sources

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