yí​fu

uncle

mother/wife's sister

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
nǚ, nü woman
Sound component
ancient barbarian tribes

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanglil
Unicodei

說文解字

《說文》:“姨,妻之女弟同出為姨。从女,夷聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

father

Pictograph of a hand holding something. The exact nature of the object is unclear. Variously explained as a rod or a hatchet.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 (2 of 4 verified)

Meaning (4)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjuXp(r)aʔ (respectful suffix in male names)
bjuX[N-p](r)aʔ father

說文解字

《說文》:“父,矩也,家長率教者。从又舉杖。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.200-201
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica