落寞
luò​mò

lonely

落 luò, là fall

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸. Alludes to leaves falling from trees.

洛
洛 Sound component
luò river in Shanxi province

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartlakkə.rˤak fall (v.)

說文解字

凡艸曰零，木曰落。从艸洛聲。

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)

寞 mò silent

Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 莫 represents the sound.

Components

宀
宀 Meaning component
mián roof
莫
莫 Sound component
mò, mo do not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangmaːɡ
Unicodemɑk

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica