a chemical compound

To speak  of the future  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
SoundMeaning component
bo fortune telling

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkiː
kʰiːʔ

說文解字

卜以問疑也。从口、卜。讀與稽同。《書》云“卟疑”。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica