HSK7

employ

Original meaning: type of bird

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally was the name of a type of bird. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

Sound component
hù, hu door
Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "type of bird", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuH[C.q]ʷˤa(ʔ)-s to hire

說文解字

《說文》:“雇,九雇,農桑候鳥,扈民不婬者也。从隹,戶聲。春雇鳻盾,夏雇竊玄,秋雇竊藍,冬雇竊黃,棘雇竊丹,行雇唶唶,宵雇嘖嘖,桑雇竊脂,老雇鷃也。,雇或从雩,,籀文雇,从鳥。”

Sources

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