购
gòu HSK4

buy

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 購.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

勾
勾 Sound component
gōu hook

Sources

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

購 gòu buy Traditional

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

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

冓
冓 Sound component
gòu, gōu a secluded place

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwHkˤ(r)o-s present (v.), give

說文解字

《說文》：“購，以財有所求也。从貝，冓聲。”

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)