八角床
bā​jiǎo​chuáng

canopy bed

八 bā eight

Original meaning: separate

Pictograph of two lines facing away from each other. The current meaning "eight" is a phonetic loan. The original meaning "separate" is now written as 別.

Character Evolution

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 Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (7 of 8 verified)

分公半兑兮胤廛兌

Sound (3 of 4 verified)

分叭趴扒

Distinguishing (4)

尚柬酋㒸

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

詹畟

Unknown (1 of 2 verified)

兮圙

Simplified (1)

兑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpeatpˤret eight

說文解字

《說文》：“八，別也。象分別相背之形。”

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)

角 jiǎo, jué horn

Pictograph of a horn.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (4 of 12 verified)

触觯觥觞觳觚觫觸觱觖觜觴

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

确粟斛桷

Iconic (3)

解衡𢍱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkaewkC.[k]ˤrok horn, corner

說文解字

《說文》：“角，獸角也。象形，角與刀魚相似。”

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)

床 chuáng bed

Depicts a bed (爿) made from wood (木). Originally written as 爿 or 牀.

Components

爿
爿 SoundIconic component
pán, qiáng piece of wood

Depicts a bed.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爿 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzrjangk.dzraŋbed
Zhengzhangzraŋ
Unicodejrhiɑng

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.489-490漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang