跨
kuà HSK6

straddle

Original meaning: stepping forward or from side to side

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

Components

足
足 Meaning component
zú foot

foot

夸
夸 Sound component
kuā exaggerate

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰʷraː
kʰʷraːʔ
kʰʷraːs
kʰʷaːs
Unicodekuà

說文解字

《說文》:“跨,渡也。从足,夸聲。”

Sources

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