蟹爪兰
xiè​zhǎo​lán

holiday cactus

蟹 xiè crab

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 解 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蠏.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
解
解 Sound component
jiě divide

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthɛXm-kˤreʔcrab
Zhengzhangɡreːʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

爪 zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw

Pictograph of a hand or claw pointing downwards.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (2)

色印

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

抓笊

Meaning (2)

抓爬

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsraewX[ts]ˤ<r>uʔ claw

說文解字

《說文》：“爪，也。覆手曰爪，象形。”

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)

兰 lán orchid Simplified

Simplified form of 蘭. Phonosemantic compound. 䒑 represents the meaning and 三 represents the sound.

Components

䒑
䒑 Meaning component
cǎo grass

䒑 is a component form of 艸.

二
二 Simplified component
èr two

Shorthand for the 闌 component in the traditional character 蘭.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

烂拦栏

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary
Readings & variants
Unicode

蘭 orchid Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlank.rˤan orchid

說文解字

《說文》：“蘭，香艸也。从艸，闌聲。”

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)