小凤头燕鸥
xiǎo​fèng​tóu​yàn'ōu

lesser crested tern

小 xiǎo small

Depicts three small dots, representing the meaning "small". Originally the same character as 少. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (3 of 8 verified)

孙尖尘肖隙尕尜尗

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

肖県

Iconic (2)

𭕆𧴪

Simplified (1)

孙

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsjewX[s]ewʔ small

說文解字

《說文》：“小，物之微也。从八，丨見而分之。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.79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)

凤 fèng male phoenix Simplified

Simplified form of 鳳. Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 鳥 component in the traditional character 鳳.

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Sources

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

头 tóu, tou head Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. The simplified character 头 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 頭.

Components

豆
豆 SoundSimplified component
dòu bean
頁
頁 IconicSimplified component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

Component uses

Simplified (2)

实买

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

燕 yàn swallow (bird)

Pictograph of a swallow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

讌嚥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'enHʔˤe[n]-s swallow (n.)
'enHʔˤe[n]-s feast

說文解字

《說文》：“燕，玄鳥也。籋口，布翄，枝尾，象形。”

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)

鸥 ōu seagull Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 鸟 represents the meaning and 区 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鷗.

Components

鸟
鸟 Meaning component
niǎo bird
区
区 Sound component
qū area

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鳳 fèng male phoenix Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Remnant (1)

風

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbums
Unicodebhiùng

說文解字

《說文》：“鳳，神鳥也。天老曰：鳳之象也，鴻前麐後，蛇頸魚尾，鸛顙鴛思，龍文虎背，燕頷雞喙，五色備舉。出於東方君子之國，翺翔四海之外，過崐崘，飲砥柱，濯羽弱水，莫宿風穴，見則天下大安寧。从鳥，凡聲。，古文鳳，象形。鳳飛羣鳥從以萬數，故以為朋黨字。，亦古文鳳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

頭 tóu, tou head Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 頁 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound.

Components

頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Depicts a head on top of a person.

豆
豆 Sound component
dòu bean

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduw[m-t]ˤo head

說文解字

《說文》：“頭，首也。从頁，豆聲。”

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)

鷗 ōu seagull Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 區 represents the sound.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
區
區 Sound component
qū area

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqoː
Unicodeqou

Sources

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