蒸汽
zhēng​qì

steam

蒸 zhēng steam

Steam 烝 provides the meaning and sound

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
烝
烝 Meaning component
zhēng rise

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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-Sagarttsyingtəŋtwigs as firewood
Zhengzhangkljɯŋ
Unicodejiəng
jiɛng

說文解字

折麻中榦也。从艸烝聲。

Sources

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

汽 qì steam

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

气
气 SoundMeaning component
qì, qi air

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰɯds

說文解字

《說文》：“汽，水涸也。或曰泣下。从水，气聲。《詩》曰：‘汽可小康。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)