说 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

shuōshuìyuè HSK1

speak

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shuō speak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

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

shuō, shuì, yuè speak Traditional

Variant form of 說. Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

説 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
説 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	sywejH	l̥ot-s	exhort
	sywet	l̥ot	speak, explain
	ywet	lot	pleased

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

説 shuō, shuì, yuè speak Traditional

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

shuō speak Traditional

shuō, shuì, yuè speak Traditional