乳酪蛋糕
rǔ​lào​dàn​gāo

cheesecake

乳 rǔ breast, milk

Depicts a mother holding (爫) a child (子) breastfeeding it.

Components

爫
爫 Iconic component
zhǎo hand, claw

爫 is a component form of 爪. Depicts a hand.

子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a mother breastfeeding.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnyuXnoʔ milk; nipple

說文解字

《說文》：“乳，人及鳥生子曰乳，獸曰產。从孚，从乙。乙者，玄鳥也。《明堂》、《月令》：‘玄鳥至之日，祠于高禖以請子。’故乳从乙。請子必以乙至之日者，乙春分來，秋分去，開生之候鳥，帝少昊司分之官也。”

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)

酪 lào, luò, lù cream

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

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
各
各 Sound component
gè each

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡ·raːɡ

說文解字

乳𤖅也。从酉各聲。

Sources

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

蛋 dàn eggs

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 延 represents the sound.

Components

延
延 SoundRemnant component
yán delay
Change in sound
虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl'aːns

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

糕 gāo cakes

Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 羔 represents the sound.

Components

米
米 Meaning component
mǐ rice
羔
羔 Sound component
gāo lamb

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkluː

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang