褐灰雀
hè​huī​què

brown bullfinch

褐 hè coarse woolen cloth

Phonosemantic compound. 衤 represents the meaning and 曷 represents the sound.

Components

衤
衤 Meaning component
yī clothes

衤 is a component form of 衣.

曷
曷 Sound component
hé, è, hè why? what? where?

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthat[ɢ]ˤat coarse cloth

說文解字

《說文》：“褐，編枲韤。一曰粗衣。从衣，曷聲。”

Sources

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

灰 huī ashes

Depicts a hand (又) picking ashes left over from a fire (火).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

恢盔诙咴詼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwojm̥ˤə ashes

說文解字

《說文》：“灰，死火餘也。从火，从又。又，手也。火既滅，可以執持。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.890
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

雀 què sparrow

Pictograph of a sparrow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjak[ts]ewk sparrow

說文解字

《說文》：“雀，依人小鳥也。从小、隹。讀與爵同。”

Sources

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