丑恶
chǒu'è HSK7

vile

丑 chǒu second earthly branch; (simp.) ugly Simplified

Depicts of a hand or paw with fingernails or claws. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. In simplified Chinese 丑 is also used to mean "ugly", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 醜.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

纽扭羞钮妞忸狃紐鈕

Iconic (1)

羞

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

衄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttrhjuwX[n̥]ruʔ 2d earthly branch

說文解字

《說文》：“丑，紐也。十二月，萬物動，用事。象手之形。時加丑，亦舉手時也。”

Sources

Character origin
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)

恶 è, wù evil Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 亚 represents the sound. Simplified form of 惡.

Components

亚
亚 Sound component
yà Asia, sub-
Change in sound
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Component uses

Sound (1)

𫫇

Meaning (1)

𫫇

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

醜 clown Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鬼 represents the meaning and 酉 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Sound component
yǒu wine
鬼
鬼 Meaning component
guǐ ghost

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 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 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-SagarttsyhuwXt.qʰuʔ ugly; evil
tsyhuwXt.qʰuʔ category

說文解字

可惡也。从鬼酉聲。

Sources

Character origin
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)

惡 è, wù evil Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 亞 represents the sound.

Components

亞
亞 Sound component
yà Asia, sub-
Change in sound
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
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

Sound (1)

噁

Meaning (1)

噁

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'akʔˤak bad, ugly
'uHʔˤak-s hate (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“惡，過也。从心，亞聲。”

Sources

Character origin
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)