láo​zāo

fermented rice

láo unclear wine

Components

Meaning component
yǒu wine

wine

Sound component
liù, lù to sweep away, to remove

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangruːw

說文解字

汁滓酒也。从酉翏聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

zāo sediment, rotten, ruined

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rice
Sound component
cáo plaintiff and defendant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsaw[ts]ˤu dregs

說文解字

《說文》:“糟,酒滓也。从米,曹聲。,籀文从酉。”

Sources

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