覆灭
fù​miè

destruction

覆 fù cover, turn over

Phonosemantic compound. 襾 represents the meaning and 復 represents the sound.

Components

襾
襾 Meaning component
yà cover
復
復 Sound component
return

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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartphjuwHpʰ(r)uk-s cover
phjuwkpʰ(r)uk turn over

說文解字

《說文》：“覆，覂也。一曰蓋也。从襾，復聲。”

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)

灭 miè extinguish Simplified

Depicts putting a cover over a fire (火) to smother it. Simplified from 滅.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a cover used to smother a fire.

火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Sources

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

滅 miè extinguish Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 烕 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

烕
烕 SoundMeaning component
miè extinguish

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 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-Sagartmjiet[m]et destroy

說文解字

《說文》：“滅，盡也。从水，烕聲。”

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)