鬼怪
guǐ​guài

monster

鬼 guǐ ghost

Pictograph of a person (人) with the head of a ghost/demon (甶). 厶 was later added as a decorative mark.

Components

甶
甶 Iconic component
fú human's head

Used here to depict the head of a ghost/demon.

人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person
厶
厶 Distinguishing component
sī, mǒu private, selfish

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
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 16 verified)

魔魂魏魄魅魇魑魉魃魍魈魆醜魖魎魘

Sound (4 of 9 verified)

畏愧瑰魁槐傀隗嵬塊

Iconic (1)

畏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjw+jXk-ʔujʔ ghost

說文解字

《說文》：“鬼，人所歸為鬼。从人，象鬼頭。鬼陰氣賊害，从厶。，古文从示。”

Sources

Character origin
林志強《《文源》評注》p.4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)

怪 guài strange

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 圣 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

圣
圣 Sound component
shèng sage, holy
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkweajH[k]ʷˤrə-s extraordinary

說文解字

《說文》：“怪，異也。从心，圣聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫Zhengzhang Shangfang
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)