黑胸歌鸲
hēi​xiōng​gē​qú

Himalayan rubythroat

黑 hēi black

Original meaning: tattoo the face for a crime committed

Pictograph of a person whose face has been tattooed, now written as 墨. In ancient China criminals were punished by having their faces permanently marked. Later writers reanalyzed the character as a chimney being blackened by fire, so the bottom component was written to look like 炎 (flame).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 14 verified)

黛黯黝黔黜黠點黢黧黥黟黨黴黪

Sound (3 of 5 verified)

默墨嘿黩黷

Iconic (2)

墨𦰩

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxokm̥ˤək (dialect *m̥ˤ- > xˤ-)black

說文解字

《說文》：“黑，火所熏之色也。从炎上出囦。囦古字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.760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)

胸 xiōng breast

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 匈 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

匈
匈 SoundMeaning component
xiōng breast

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰoŋ
Unicodexiong

說文解字

《說文》：“匈，聲也。从勹，凶聲。，匈或从肉。”

Sources

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

歌 gē, ge song

Originally depicted a person carrying an axe while singing. Now a phonosemantic compound. 欠 (pictograph of a person opening their mouth) represents the meaning and 哥 represents the sound.

Components

哥
哥 Sound component
gē, ge elder brother

Originally depicted an axe being carried. Later reanalyzed into phonetic component 哥.

欠
欠 Iconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person opening their mouth.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartka[k]ˤaj sing, song

說文解字

《說文》：“歌，詠也。从欠，哥聲。謌，謌（歌）或从言。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.696
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鸲 qú, gōu, gòu mynah Simplified

Components

句
句 Sound component
jù sentence
鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鴝 mynah Traditional

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkoː
ɡo

說文解字

鴝鵒也。从鳥句聲。

Sources

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