褓姆

褓 bǎo swaddling cloth

A cloth 衤 used to protect 保 an infant; 保 also provides the pronunciation

Components

衤
衤 Meaning component
yī clothes
保
保 SoundMeaning component
bǎo protect

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpuːʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

姆 mǔ woman looking after children

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 母 represents the sound.

Components

女
女 Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
母
母 Sound component
mǔ mother

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmuwXməʔ female teacher in harem

Sources

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