tún​gǔ

pork bone

tún, dūn, dùn small pig

Original meaning: fat pig

Depicts the meat (⺼) from a fat pig ().

Components

Iconic component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Iconic component
shǐ pig

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdwonXlˤu[n]ʔ drag feet; withdraw
dwonlˤu[n] young pig

說文解字

《說文》:“,小豕也。从彖省,象形。从又持肉,以給祠祀。豚,篆文从肉、豕。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

gǔ, gú bone

Pictograph of a bone () with a muscle () attached to it.

Components

SoundIconic component
guǎ bone
Iconic component
ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to .

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 21 verified)

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwotkˤut bone

說文解字

《說文》:“骨,肉之覈也。从冎,有肉。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.336
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica