Original meaning: scrotum
Pictograph of the scrotum of a male's penis. The meaning later shifted to "egg", "ovum", and "spawn".
Character Evolution
Component uses
Meaning (1)
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | lwaX | k.rˤorʔ (dialect: *-r > *-j) | egg |
| lwanX | k.rˤorʔ | egg |
說文解字
《說文》：“卵，凡物無乳者卵生。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.901-902
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| Zhengzhang | pʰruː |
| m̥ʰruːs | |
| bruː |
說文解字
水。出山陽平樂，東北入泗。从水包聲。
Sources
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Zhengzhang Shangfang
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)