wà​nà​shòu

fur seal

fat Simplified

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

Sound component
wēn to feed a prisoner

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangquːd

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

nà, nù fat

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

meat

Sound component
nèi inside

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrnuːd
nuːd
nuɡ

說文解字

朔而月見東方謂之縮肭。从月内聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

shòu beast Simplified

Original meaning: to hunt

Depicts using a hunting tool () and a dog () to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of . was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast". The traditional component was deleted for simplification.

Components

dān single
kǒu, kou mouth
Deleted component
quǎn dog

The traditional component was deleted for simplification.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1270劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 14, p.393何琳儀《戰國古文字典:戰國文字聲系》p.218
Readings & variants
Unicode

fat Traditional

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

Unknown component
qiú prisoner
Unknown component
mǐn, mǐng dish

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

shòu beast Traditional

Original meaning: to hunt

Depicts using a hunting tool () and a dog () to hunt for and capture wild animals. Original form of . was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "beast".

Components

Iconic component
dān single

Depicts a hunting tool.

kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyuwHs.tʰu(ʔ)-s (wild) animal

說文解字

《說文》:“獸,守備者。从嘼,从犬。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.1270劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol. 14, p.393何琳儀《戰國古文字典:戰國文字聲系》p.218
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica