liǎoliào HSK1

bright

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
eye
Sound component
liào, liáo burnt offering

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːw
reːwʔ
Unicodeleu
lěu

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

le, liǎo, liào finish Simplified

Original meaning: armless child

Pictograph of a young child, similar to , but without arms. Compare to (child only with right arm) and (child only with left arm). The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

IconicRemnant component
zi, zǐ child

A child () without arms.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːwʔ
Unicodeleǔ
leǔ

說文解字

《說文》:“了,尦也。从子無臂,象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.972
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica