gǔ​gěng

candid speaker

gǔ, gú bone

Pictograph of a bone () with a muscle () attached to it.

Components

SoundIconic component
guǎ bone
Iconic component
ròu meat

Deceptively similar but unrelated to .

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 21 verified)

Sound (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwotkˤut bone

說文解字

《說文》:“骨,肉之覈也。从冎,有肉。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.336
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

gěng fish bones Simplified

Components

Meaning component
fish

fish

Sound component
gèng, gēng more

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

fish bones Traditional

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkraːŋʔ
Unicodegæ̌ng

說文解字

魚骨也。从魚更聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica