lán​gē​qú

Siberian blue robin

lán blue, indigo plant Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
jiān watch carefully
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

gē, ge song

Originally depicted a person carrying an axe while singing. Now a phonosemantic compound. (pictograph of a person opening their mouth) represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
gē, ge elder brother

Originally depicted an axe being carried. Later reanalyzed into phonetic component .

Iconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person opening their mouth.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartka[k]ˤaj sing, song

說文解字

《說文》:“歌,詠也。从欠,哥聲。謌,謌(歌)或从言。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.696
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

qú, gōu, gòu mynah Simplified

Components

Sound component
sentence
Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

lán blue, indigo plant Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
jiān watch carefully
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlam[N-k.]rˤam indigo

說文解字

《說文》:“藍,染青草也。从艸,監聲。”

Sources

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

mynah Traditional

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkoː
ɡo

說文解字

鴝鵒也。从鳥句聲。

Sources

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