苋菜
xiàn​cài

amaranth

苋 xiàn, wàn Chinese spinach Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 见 represents the sound. Simplified form of 莧.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

见
见 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Component uses

Simplified (1)

宽

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

菜 cài vegetables

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

采
采 Sound component
cǎi gather, pick

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshojHs.r̥ˤəʔ-s vegetables

說文解字

艸之可食者。从艸采聲。

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)

莧 Chinese spinach Traditional

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

見
見 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡreːns

說文解字

《說文》：“莧，莧菜也。从艸，見聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)