虽说 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

suī although Simplified

Original meaning: type of lizard

Simplified form of 雖. Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 唯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of lizard". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

唯 Simplified component

wéi only

Shorthand for the 唯 component in the traditional character 雖.

虫 Meaning component

chóng bug, insect

Component uses

Sound (1)

强

Remnant (1)

强

Sources

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

shuō speak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

suī although Traditional

Original meaning: type of lizard

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 唯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of lizard". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

虫 Meaning component

chóng bug, insect

Change in meaning

虫 hints at the original meaning of 雖, "type of lizard", which is no longer the most common meaning of 雖 in modern Mandarin.

唯 Sound component

wéi only

Change in sound

雖 and 唯 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
雖 swij
唯 ywij

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	swij	s-qʷij	although; even if

說文解字

《說文》：“雖，似蜥蜴而大。从虫，唯聲。”

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)

shuō speak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

虽 suī although Simplified

Components

Component uses

Sound (1)

Remnant (1)

Sources

说 shuō speak Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

雖 suī although Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

suī although Simplified

shuō speak Simplified

suī although Traditional

shuō speak Traditional