触霉头
chù​méi​tóu

be unlucky

触 chù knock against, touch, to butt with the horns Simplified

Simplified form of 觸. Phonosemantic compound. 角 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

角
角 Meaning component
jiǎo, jué horn
虫
虫 Simplified component
chóng bug, insect

Shorthand for the phonetic 蜀 component in the traditional character 觸.

Sources

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

霉 méi mildew

Phonosemantic compound. 雨 represents the meaning and 每 represents the sound. Simplified form of 黴.

Components

雨
雨 Meaning component
yǔ rain
每
每 Sound component
měi every

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmrɯl

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆
豆 SoundSimplified component
dòu bean
頁
頁 IconicSimplified component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

觸 chù knock against, touch, to butt with the horns Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 角 represents the meaning and 蜀 represents the sound.

Components

角
角 Meaning component
jiǎo, jué horn
蜀
蜀 Sound component
shǔ short name for Sichuan

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhowktʰok knock against

說文解字

《說文》：“觸，抵也。从角，蜀聲。”

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)

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)