限制酶
xiàn​zhì​méi

restriction enzyme

限 xiàn boundary

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartheanX[g]ˤrə[n]ʔ obstacle, limit

說文解字

《說文》：“限，阻也。一曰門榍。从，艮聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

制 zhì control

Original meaning: break

Depicts cutting down a tree (未) with a knife (刂). Based on the original meaning "break". The meaning later shifted to "control".

Components

未
未 Iconic component
wèi not yet

Depicts a tree.

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

刂 is a component form of 刀.


Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

掣製

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyejHtet-s cut out, prepare

說文解字

《說文》：“制，裁也。从刀，从未。未，物成，有滋味，可裁斷。一曰止也。，古文制如此。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.357漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

酶 méi enzymes

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 每 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
每
每 Sound component
měi every

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmɯː

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang