思潮
sī​cháo

zeitgeist

思 sī, si think

Thought is associated with the head (囟) and heart (心). 囟 is also a phonetic component.

Components

囟
囟 SoundMeaning component
xìn fontanel

Depicts the top of the head. The modern form of the this component looks like 田 (field), but is unrelated.

Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 囟 than it was in ancient scripts.
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

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 Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

腮鳃锶缌葸鰓

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

勰慮

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsi[s]ə think

說文解字

《說文》：“思，容也。从心，囟聲。”

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)

潮 cháo tide

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 朝 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

朝
朝 Sound component
cháo, zhāo dynasty

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdrjew[N]-t<r>aw morning tide

Sources

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