萝卜白菜，各有所爱
luó​bo​bái​cài, gè​yǒu​suǒ'ài

personal preference

萝 luó type of creeping plant Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 罗 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蘿.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

罗
罗 Sound component
luó, luō, luo net for catching birds

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

卜 bo fortune telling Simplified

Pictograph of a crack on a bone. In ancient China such cracks were used for fortune-telling.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

补扑仆赴朴讣卟钋攴訃

Iconic (4)

外占畏斦

Simplified (2)

处盐

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

卦卟

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

圤

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpuwkpˤok divine (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“卜，灼剥龜也。象灸龜之形。一曰象龜兆之從橫也。，古文卜。”

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)

白 bái, bai white

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 (8 of 15 verified)

百怕伯迫拍帕柏泊舶魄珀帛粕铂樂

Meaning (2 of 13 verified)

的珀皓皖皑皋皙皎皤皅皦皒皚

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbaekbˤrak white

說文解字

《說文》：“白，西方色也。陰用事，物色白。从入合二。二，陰數。，古文白。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.625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)

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)

各 gè each

Original meaning: arrive

Depicts a foot (夂) arriving at an entrance (口). Based on the original meaning "arrive". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

夂
夂 Iconic component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止, which depicts a foot.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts an entrance.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 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

Component uses

Sound (7 of 27 verified)

路格客略洛络阁胳咯骆烙骼恪酪铬珞貉硌袼辂絡饹閣賂餎鉻駱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkakkˤak each

說文解字

《說文》：“各，異辭也。从口、夂。夂者，有行而止之，不相聽也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.100-101
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

有 yǒu have

Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

Components

又
又 SoundIconic component
yòu hand
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.
肉
肉 Iconic component
ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to the character for moon (月).

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 肉 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 9 verified)

郁囿宥鲔侑铕洧鮪迶

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

贿賄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthjuwX[ɢ]ʷəʔ have, exist

說文解字

《說文》：“有，不宜有也。《春秋傳》曰：‘日月有食之。’从月，又聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.550
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

所 suǒ place

Origin unclear. 戶 represents the sound.

Components

戶
戶 Sound component
hù, hu door
Change in sound
斤
斤 Meaning component
jīn axe

The original purpose of this component is unclear.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsrjoXs-qʰ<r>aʔ place (n.); that which
xuXqʰaʔ 所所 = 許許 = 滸滸 sound of hewing wood

說文解字

《說文》：“所，伐木聲也。从斤，戶聲。”

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)

爱 ài love Simplified

Simplified form of 愛. Phonosemantic compound. 旡 represents the sound and 友 (friend) represents the meaning.

Components

旡
旡 Sound component
jì choke on something eaten
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 旡 than it was in ancient scripts.
◎
◎ Simplified component
characterless component

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

暧嗳嫒瑷𫣊

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蘿 luó type of creeping plant Traditional

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

羅
羅 Sound component
net for catching birds

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangraːl
Unicodelɑ

說文解字

莪也。从艸羅聲。

Sources

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

蔔 bó, bo radish Traditional

Vegetables 艹 that are buried in the ground 匐; 匐 also provides the pronunciation

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
匐
匐 SoundMeaning component
fú fall prostrate

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangbɯːɡ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

愛 ài love Traditional

Originally a phonosemantic compound, with 旡 representing the sound and 心 (heart) representing the meaning. Later the 夂 component was added.

Components

兂
兂 Sound component
zān hairpin
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 兂 than it was in ancient scripts.
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart
夂
夂 Unknown component
zhǐ, zhōng go

夂 is a component form of 止. The purpose of this component is unclear.

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

僾噯曖璦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ojH[q]ˤə[p]-s to love; to grudge (< ‘draw close to oneself’?)

說文解字

《說文》：“愛，行皃。从夊，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)