呜呼哀哉
wū​hū'āi​zāi

alas

呜 wū sound of crying Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乌 represents the sound. Simplified form of 嗚.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
乌
乌 Sound component
wū crow

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

呼 hū, hu breathe, shout

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乎 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
乎
乎 Sound component
hu, hū interrogative or exclamatory final particle

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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-Sagartxuqʰˤa call out, shout
xuHqʰˤa-s call out, shout

說文解字

《說文》：“呼，外息也。从口，乎聲。”

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)

哀 āi sad; pity

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 衣 represents the sound.

Components

衣
衣 Sound component
yī clothes
口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 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 (0 of 1 verified)

锿

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'ojʔˤəj to pity; sad

說文解字

《說文》：“哀，閔也。从口，衣聲。”

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)

哉 zāi final exclamatory particle

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

mouth

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsoj[ts]ˤəbegin; (particle)
Zhengzhangʔslɯː

說文解字

言之閒也。从口𢦔聲。

Sources

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

嗚 wū sound of crying Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 烏 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
烏
烏 Sound component
wū crow

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqaː
Unicodeqo

Sources

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