螺髻
luó​jì

spiral topknot

螺 luó spiral shell

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

累
累 Sound component
lèi, lěi tired

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlwak.rˤojspiral, snail
Zhengzhangroːl

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

髻 jì, jié hair rolled up in a bun

Phonosemantic compound. 髟 represents the meaning and 吉 represents the sound.

Components

髟
髟 Meaning component
biāo, piào, shān long hair
吉
吉 Sound component
jí lucky

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkejHkˤi[t]-shair-knot, chignon
Zhengzhangkiːds
Unicodegèi

說文解字

緫髮也。从髟吉聲。古通用結。

Sources

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