Original meaning: a parasitic vine
Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 冡 represents the sound. Originally the name of a plant, later meanings coincide with the original meaning of 冡 (to cover).
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | muwng | mˤoŋ | cover (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“蒙，王女也。从艸，冡聲。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 李學勤 《字源》 p.58
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Original meaning: bull
Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "bull". The meaning later shifted to "prominent" and "special".
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | dok | [d]ˤək | bull |
說文解字
《說文》：“特，朴特，牛父也。从牛，寺聲。”
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)
Simplified
Traditional
Original meaning: hug
Depicts two hands holding a woman's (女) waist. Based on the original meaning "hug", now written as 摟. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Components
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | lju | [r]o | drag, trail (v.) |
說文解字
《說文》：“婁，空也。从母中女，空之意也。一曰婁務也。，古文。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.853-854
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)