说书 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shuō speak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shū book Simplified

Simplified form of 書. Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. The simplified character 书 is derived from the cursive form of 書.

Components

聿 Meaning Simplified component

yù writing brush

者 Sound Simplified component

zhě one who...

Change in sound

书 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Sources

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

shuō speak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shū book Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿 Meaning component

yù writing brush

者 Sound component

zhě one who...

Change in sound

書 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
書 syo
者 tsyaeX

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	syo	s-ta	write

說文解字

《說文》：“書，箸也。从聿，者聲。”

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)

说 shuō speak Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

书 shū book Simplified

Components

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

書 shū book Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

shuō speak Simplified

shū book Simplified

shuō speak Traditional

shū book Traditional