佛龛
fó​kān

niche

佛 fú Buddha

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

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

弗
弗 Sound component
fú not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjut[b][u]t great

說文解字

《說文》：“佛，見不審也。从人，弗聲。”

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)

龛 kān, kè niche Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 龙 represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound. Simplified form of 龕.

Components

龙
龙 Meaning component
lóng dragon
合
合 Sound component
hé to join

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

龕 niche Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 龍 represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound.

Components

龍
龍 Meaning component
lóng dragon
合
合 Sound component
hé to join

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰuːm

說文解字

龍皃。从龍合聲。

Sources

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