贼喊捉贼
zéi​hǎn​zhuō​zéi

shifting blame

贼 zéi thief Simplified

Original meaning: to destroy

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 则 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賊.

Components

则
则 SoundRemnant component
zé rule
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Sources

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

喊 hǎn shout

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰaːmʔ
qʰrɯːmʔ
ɡrɯːmʔ

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

捉 zhuō grasp

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 足 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

足
足 Sound component
zú foot

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsræwk[ts](ˤ)rokgrasp (v.)
Zhengzhangʔsoːɡ
Unicodejrak

說文解字

搤也。从手足聲。一曰握也。

Sources

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

賊 zéi thief Traditional

Original meaning: to destroy

Phonosemantic compound. 戈 represents the meaning and 則 represents the sound.

Components

則
則 Sound component
zé rule
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 則 than it was in ancient scripts.
戈
戈 Meaning component
gē spear

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
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-Sagartdzokk.dzˤək injure; murderer, bandit

說文解字

《說文》：“，敗也。从戈，則聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫Zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)