鞣酸
róu​suān

tannin

鞣 róu tan

To soften 柔 leather 革; 柔 also provides the pronunciation

Components

革
革 Meaning component
gé leather
柔
柔 SoundMeaning component
róu soft, flexible

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmju
mjus

說文解字

耎也。从革从柔，柔亦聲。

Sources

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

酸 suān sour, tart

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

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
夋
夋 Sound component
qūn to dawdle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartswan[s]ˤor sour

說文解字

《說文》：“酸，酢也。从酉，夋聲。關東謂酢曰酸。，籀文酸从畯。”

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)