九尾狐
jiǔ​wěi​hú

nine-tailed fox

九 jiǔ nine

Original meaning: elbow

Depicts an elbow. Based on the original meaning "elbow", now written as 肘. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

究仇轨旭鸠馗宄艽尻犰軌鳩鼽氿

Simplified (1)

杂

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjuwX[k]uʔ nine

說文解字

《說文》：“九，陽之變也。象其屈曲究盡之形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.952-953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)

尾 wěi tail

Depicts fur (毛) protruding from the posterior of a person (尸) wearing a decorative tail.

Components

尸
尸 Iconic component
shī sitting person

Depicts a person sitting or squatting.

毛
毛 Iconic component
máo, mao hair

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Qin 221-206 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

属屈艉屬

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

犀娓艉

Remnant (1)

屈

Iconic (1)

隶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmj+jX[m]əjʔ tail

說文解字

《說文》：“尾，微也。从到毛在尸後。古人或飾系尾，西南夷亦然。”

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)

狐 hú species of fox

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 瓜 represents the sound.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

瓜
瓜 Sound component
guā melon

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthu[ɡ]ʷˤafox
Zhengzhangɡʷaː
Unicodeho

說文解字

䄏獸也。鬼所乘之。有三徳：其色中和，小前大後，死則丘首。从犬瓜聲。

Sources

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