xié​hu

exaggerated

xié evil

Original meaning: place name

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and ⻏ represents the meaning. Based on the original use as a place name. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Sound component
tooth
Change in sound
Meaning component
city
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "place name", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjaesə.ɢA awry
zjosə.la walk slowly
yaeɢ(r)A 琅邪 (name of a mountain in Shāndōng)
yae[ɢ](r)A (interrogative particle)

說文解字

《說文》:“邪,琅邪郡。从邑,牙聲。”

Sources

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

hu, hū interrogative or exclamatory final particle

Original meaning: exhale, shout

Depicts wind rustling through a tree branch (). Based on the original meaning "exhale, shout", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts airflow from wind.

Iconic component
kǎo, qiǎo, yú axe handle

Depicts a tree branch.

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

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthuɢˤa (Q particle)
huɢˤa in, at

說文解字

《說文》:“乎,語之餘也。从,象聲上越揚之形也。”

Sources

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