鸿胪寺
hóng​lú​sì

state ceremonial office

鸿 hóng, hòng species of wild swan Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 江 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鴻.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
江
江 Sound component
jiāng large river

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

胪 lú, lǚ arrange in order Simplified

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

卢
卢 Sound component
lú, lǘ, léi rice vessel

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

寺 sì, shì temple

Original meaning: to hold

Phonosemantic compound. 又 represents the meaning and 之 represents the sound. 又 was later reanalyzed as 寸, which also depicts a hand. Based on the original meaning "to hold", now written as 持. The current meaning "temple" is a phonetic loan.

Components

之
之 Sound component
zhī [attributive particle]
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 之 than it was in ancient scripts.
寸
寸 Meaning component
cùn, cun (hand), inch

Originally 又 but later reanalyzed as 寸. Depicts a hand.

Change in meaning
寸 hints at the original meaning of 寺, "to hold", which is no longer the most common meaning of 寺 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

等特持待诗侍峙恃痔詩時

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartziHs-[d]əʔ-s hall

說文解字

《說文》：“寺，廷也，有法度者也。从寸，之聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.234漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.242-243
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鴻 species of wild swan Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 江 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
江
江 Sound component
jiāng large river

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthuwng[ɡ]ˤoŋkind of wild goose
Zhengzhangɡoːŋ
ɡoːŋʔ
Unicodehung

說文解字

鴻鵠也。从鳥江聲。

Sources

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

臚 arrange in order Traditional

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

flesh

盧
盧 Sound component
rice vessel

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangb·ra

說文解字

皮也。从肉盧聲。

Sources

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