dǔ​zhòu

swear

bet, gamble Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

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

zhòu curse

Derived from , with the (show) component being replaced by (mouth) component when the meaning extended to "curse". Depicts a kneeling person () opening their mouth () to pray for disaster to happen on someone.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth
Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Modern form looks like .

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtjus

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

bet, gamble Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

Sound component
zhě one who...
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttuXmə.tˤaʔ wager

說文解字

《說文新附》:“賭,博簺也。从貝,者聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica