豺
chái

jackal

Phonosemantic compound. 豸 represents the meaning and 才 represents the sound.

Components

豸
豸 Meaning component
zhì (dhole), beast

Jackals are similar to that of dholes.

才
才 Sound component
cái, cai talent

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzreaj[dz]ˤrə wolf

說文解字

《說文》:“豺,狼屬,狗聲。从豸,才聲。”

Sources

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