苎麻
zhù​má

fiber

苎 zhù, níng china grass Simplified

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

grass

㝉
㝉 Sound component
zhù storage container

Sources

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

麻 má, ma hemp

Depicts hemp leaves (𣏟) growing under a cliff (厂). The cliff (厂) component was later written as 广.

Components

厂
厂 Iconic component
chǎng cliff, (roof)

Depicts a cliff.

𣏟
𣏟 Iconic component
pài hemp

Depicts hemp leaves.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (5 of 8 verified)

摩魔磨嘛麽靡糜麼

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

縻

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaeC.mˤraj hemp

說文解字

《說文》：“麻，與同。人所治，在屋下。从广，从。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.585-586
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

苧 níng, zhù china grass Traditional

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

grass

宁
宁 Sound component
níng, nìng peaceful, (storage container)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangdaʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang