陡崖
dǒu​yá

precipice

陡 dǒu steep

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

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

走
走 Sound component
zǒu walk

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtoːʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

崖 yá cliff

A mountain 山 precipice 厓; 厓 also provides the pronunciation

Components

山
山 Meaning component
shān mountain
厓
厓 SoundMeaning component
yá, ái precipice

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngɛŋˤrarriver bank; limit
Zhengzhangŋreː
ŋre
Unicodengɛi

說文解字

高邊也。从屵圭聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)