蝴蝶犬
hú​dié​quǎn

papillon

蝴 hú butterfly

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
胡
胡 Sound component
hú beard

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡaː
Unicodeho

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

蝶 dié butterfly

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 枼 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蜨.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
枼
枼 Sound component
yè leaf

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdeplˤephu-dep: butterfly
Zhengzhangl̥ʰeːb
l'eːb
Unicodetep
dhep

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

犬 quǎn dog

Pictograph of a dog.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (8 of 15 verified)

状默哭臭莽倏吠類猷獒肰猋獎尨狀

Iconic (10)

突献伏狱戾獄獸犮猒獻

Unknown (2)

器幸

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

厣畎

Deleted (1)

兽

Simplified (1)

厌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhwenX[k]ʷʰˤ[e][n]ʔ dog

說文解字

《說文》：“犬，狗之有縣蹏者也。象形。孔子曰：‘視犬之字如畫狗也。’”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.750
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)