艾鼬
ài​yòu

steppe polecat

艾 ài, yì, aì Chinese mugwort or wormwood

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

乂
乂 Sound component
yì, ài mow grass

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

哎砹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngajHC.ŋˤa[t]-s Artemisia; moxa

說文解字

《說文》：“艾，冰臺也。从艸，乂聲。”

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)

鼬 yòu weasel

Phonosemantic compound. 鼠 represents the meaning and 由 represents the sound.

Components

鼠
鼠 Meaning component
shǔ rat
由
由 Sound component
yóu cause

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanglɯwɢs

說文解字

如鼠，赤黃而大，食鼠者。从鼠由聲。

Sources

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