须眉
xū​méi

men

须 xū must Simplified

Original meaning: beard

Pictograph of a person with a bearded face. Simplified form of 須. The meaning "must" is a phonetic loan.

Components

彡
彡 Iconic component
shān, xiǎn hair
页
页 Iconic component
yè page

Depicts a head.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

眉 méi eyebrows

Depicts hair above the eye (目).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts eyebrows.

目
目 Iconic component
mù eye

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

履媚湄嵋楣镅鹛猸

Iconic (1)

履

Remnant (1)

履

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmijmr[ə][r] eyebrow

說文解字

《說文》：“眉，目上毛也。从目，象眉之形，上象頟理也。”

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)

鬚 beard Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 髟 represents the meaning and 須 represents the sound.

Components

髟
髟 Meaning component
biāo, piào, shān long hair
須
須 SoundIconic component
xū must

Depicts a head with a beard.

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjuC-[s.n]o beard

Sources

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