蚌壳
bàng​ké

clamshell

蚌 bàng, bèng, pí oysters

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 丰 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
丰
丰 Sound component
fēng luxuriant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbæwngX[b]ˤroŋʔoyster, mussel
Zhengzhangbroːŋʔ
breːŋʔ

說文解字

蜃屬。从虫𡴀聲。

Sources

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

壳 ké, qiào casing Simplified

Simplified form of 殼. Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

㱿
㱿 SoundRemnant component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above
几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

Sources

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

殼 ké, qiào casing Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

㱿
㱿 Sound component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhaewk[kʰ]ˤrok hollow shell, hollow

Sources

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