鲸鲨
jīng​shā

whale shark

鲸 jīng whale Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鱼 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鯨.

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish
京
京 Sound component
jīng capital city

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鲨 shā shark Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鱼 represents the meaning and 沙 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鯊.

Components

鱼
鱼 Meaning component
yú fish
沙
沙 Sound component
shā sand

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鯨 jīng whale Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 魚 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound.

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish
京
京 Sound component
jīng capital city

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjæng[ɡ]raŋwhale
Zhengzhangɡraŋ
Unicodeghiæng

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

鯊 shark Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 魚 represents the meaning and 沙 represents the sound.

Components

魚
魚 Meaning component
yú fish
沙
沙 Sound component
shā sand

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsraːl

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang