髯须
rán​xū

beard

髯 rán beard

Phonosemantic compound. 髟 represents the meaning and 冉 represents the sound. Simplified form of 髥.

Components

髟
髟 Meaning component
biāo, piào, shān long hair
冉
冉 Sound component
rǎn, nán, dān drooping

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyemnamwhiskers
Zhengzhangnjam
njams

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

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

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