bǔ​chōng​yī​liáo

complementary medicine

mend, patch Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
clothes

is a component form of .

Sound component
bo fortune telling

Sources

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

chōng fill

Pictograph of an adult person with a hairpin in their hair, indicating being fully grown up into adulthood. In ancient China, adults usually wore a hairpin. Similar in origin to .

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhuwngtʰuŋ full, fill

說文解字

《說文》:“充,長也;高也。从儿,育省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
許進雄《簡明中國文字學》p.339-340
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

medicine Simplified

Original meaning: quiver

Originally depicted a quiver, a container for arrows. Later repurposed to mean "medicine" as a simplified form of the traditional character .

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a quiver of arrows.

Iconic component
shǐ arrow

Depicts an arrow.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqiːs

說文解字

《說文》:“医,盛弓弩矢器也。从匸,从矢。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

liáo be healed Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
sick
Sound component
le, liǎo, liào finish

Sources

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

mend, patch Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
clothes

is a component form of .

Sound component
fu begin

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuX[Cə]-pˤaʔ to patch

說文解字

《說文》:“補,完衣也。从衣,甫聲。”

Sources

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

medicine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The component is a pictograph of a container for wine, which is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

Components

Sound component
an echo
Meaning component
yǒu wine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhang

說文解字

《說文》:“醫,治病工也。殹,惡姿也,醫之性然。得酒而使。从酉。王育說。一曰殹,病聲。酒,所以治病也。《周禮》有醫酒。古者巫彭初作醫。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

liáo be healed Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
sick
Sound component
liào, liáo burnt offering

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrews

說文解字

《說文》:“,治也。从疒,樂聲。療或从尞。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica