花蕾
huā​lěi

bud

花 huā, hua flower

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

化
化 Sound component
huà change

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)

Sources

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

蕾 lěi buds

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

雷
雷 Sound component
léi thunder

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangruːlʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang