包谷
bāo​gǔ

corn

包 bāo wrap

Original meaning: to embrace

Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子). Based on the original meaning "to embrace", now written as 抱. The meaning later shifted to "cover" and "wrap".

Components

勹
勹 SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person hugging. 勹 also represents the sound.

子
子 Iconic component
zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child. Modern form looks like 巳.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 子 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (6 of 24 verified)

跑炮抱胞饱泡鲍袍咆刨苞雹疱庖孢龅匏狍飑飽砲皰鮑齙

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

袍苞飑

Iconic (1)

抱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpaewpˤ<r>u wrap, bundle

說文解字

《說文》：“包，象人褢妊，巳在中，象子未成形也。”

Sources

Character origin
谢明文《释甲骨文中的“抱”——兼论“包”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

谷 gǔ valley, ravine Simplified

Depicts an opening (口) between two mountain streams.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts two mountain streams.

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts an opening between two mountain streams.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

欲俗裕浴峪鹆鵒

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

豁峪谿郤

Iconic (1)

㕡

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwkC.qˤok valley

說文解字

《說文》：“谷，泉出通川為谷。从水半見，出於口。”

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)

穀 corn Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

㱿
㱿 Sound component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above
禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuwk[k]ˤok grain

說文解字

《說文》：“穀，續也，百穀之緫名。从禾，聲。”

Sources

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