kuà​zhōu

intercontinental

kuà straddle

Original meaning: stepping forward or from side to side

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
foot

foot

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

zhōu continent

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

SoundMeaning component
zhōu state, province, islet

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtu islet

Sources

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