葛洲坝
Gé​zhōu​bà

Gezhouba Dam

葛 gé, gě edible bean

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

曷
曷 Sound component
hé, è, hè why? what? where?

Character Evolution

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

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

噶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkat[k]ˤatDolichos; kudzu
Zhengzhangkaːd
Unicodegɑt

說文解字

絺綌艸也。从艸曷聲。

Sources

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

洲 zhōu continent

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 州 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

州
州 SoundMeaning component
zhōu state, province, islet

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtu islet

Sources

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

坝 bà embankment Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 贝 represents the sound. Simplified form of 壩.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
贝
贝 Sound component
bèi sea shell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

壩 bà embankment Traditional

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

earth

霸
霸 Sound component
bà rule by might rather than right

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpraːɡs

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang