劣汰
liè​tài

elimination

劣 liè bad

Phonosemantic compound. 少 represents the meaning and 力 represents the sound.

Components

少
少 Meaning component
shǎo, shao, shào few
力
力 Sound component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangrod
Unicodeliuɛt

說文解字

弱也。从力少聲。

Sources

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

汰 tài excessive

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 太 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

太
太 Sound component
tài, tai very

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdajHlˤa[t]-swave
Zhengzhangtʰaːds
Unicodetɑ̀i

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang