gōng​xū

supply and demand

gōng, gòng supply, provide

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

Sound component
gòng together with

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjowngk<r>oŋ furnish; serve, offer

說文解字

《說文》:“供,設也。从人,共聲。一曰供給。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

need

Original meaning: become wet

Pictograph of a person standing under the rain (), representing the meaning "become wet", now written as . The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The person component was later replaced with the phonetic component .

Components

Iconic component
rain
Sound component
ér and
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 11 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsjus-no wait

說文解字

《說文》:“需,也,遇雨不進止也。从雨,而聲。《易》曰:‘雲上於天,需。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica