qīng​líng​mù

Odonata

qīng dragonfly

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
Sound component
qīng green or blue

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsleŋ
sʰleːŋ
Unicodetseng

說文解字

蜻蛚也。从虫青聲。

Sources

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

líng dragonfly

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

Sound component
lìng command

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangreːŋ

說文解字

蜻蛉也。从虫令聲。一名桑桹。

Sources

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

eye

Pictograph of an eye.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuwkC.m(r)[u]k eye

說文解字

《說文》:“目,人眼。象形。重童子也。,古文目。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.261-262
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica