优慰
yōu​wèi

preferential treatment and consolation

优 yōu superior Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 尤 represents the sound. Simplified form of 優.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

尤
尤 Sound component
yóu especially

Sources

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

慰 wèi comfort

Components

尉
尉 Sound component
wèi, yù, yùn officer
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

heart

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartʔjwɨjHʔut-scomfort, soothe (v.)
Zhengzhangquds
Unicodeqiuə̀i

說文解字

安也。从心尉聲。一曰恚怒也。

Sources

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

優 yōu superior Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 憂 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

憂
憂 Sound component
yōu sad

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'juwʔ(r)u entertainer; liberal

說文解字

《說文》：“優，饒也。从人，憂聲。一曰倡也。”

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)