馈赠
kuì​zèng

gift

馈 kuì offer food superior Simplified

Expensive 贵 food 饣; 贵 also provides the pronunciation

Components

饣
饣 Meaning component
shí eat
贵
贵 SoundMeaning component
guì expensive

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

赠 zèng give present Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 曾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 贈.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
曾
曾 Sound component
céng already

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

饋 offer food superior Traditional

Expensive 貴 food 飠; 貴 also provides the pronunciation

Components

飠
飠 Meaning component
eat
貴
貴 SoundMeaning component
guì expensive

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgwijH[ɡ]ruj-spresent of food (<food basket ?)
Zhengzhangɡruls
Unicodeghyuì

說文解字

餉也。从食貴聲。

Sources

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

贈 give present Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 曾 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell
曾
曾 Sound component
céng already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzongH[dz]ˤəŋ-sgive
Zhengzhangzɯːŋs
Unicodedzhə̀ng

說文解字

玩好相送也。从貝曾聲。

Sources

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