kǎ​bù​qí​nuò

cappuccino

stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above () and something below (). The uses of to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

Iconic component
shàng, shang up
Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

cotton cloth

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Sound component
father
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Meaning component
jīn cloth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Qin 221-206 BC
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 (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpuHpˤa-s cloth
puHpˤa-s cloth

說文解字

《說文》:“布,枲織也。从巾,父聲。”

Sources

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

strange

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
dà, dài big
Sound component
able to
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkje[k](r)aj odd (number)
gjeN-k(r)aj strange

說文解字

《說文》:“奇,異也。一曰不耦。从大,从可。”

Sources

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

nuò promise Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
yán speech

is a component form of .

Sound component
ruò if

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

promise Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
yán speech
Sound component
ruò if

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartnaknˤak agree, say yes

說文解字

《說文》:“諾,也。从言,若聲。”

Sources

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