贩卖
fàn​mài HSK7

traffic

贩 fàn peddler Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 反 represents the sound. Simplified form of 販.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
反
反 Sound component
fǎn reverse

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

卖 mài, mai sell Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 出 represents the meaning and 买 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賣.

Components

出
出 Meaning component
chū go out
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 出 than it was in ancient scripts.
买
买 SoundMeaning component
mǎi buy

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

赎渎牍椟觌

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

赎犊黩

Simplified (1)

读

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

販 fàn peddler Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 反 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
反
反 Sound component
fǎn reverse

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpans

說文解字

買賤賣貴者。从貝反聲。

Sources

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

賣 mài, mai sell Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 出 represents the meaning and 買 represents the sound.

Components

出
出 Meaning component
chū go out
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 出 than it was in ancient scripts.
買
買 SoundMeaning component
mǎi buy

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

牘贖瀆

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

犢贖黷

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmeaHmˤrajʔ-s sell

說文解字

《說文》：“，出物貨也。从出，从買。”

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)