惟
wéi

but

Original meaning: to think

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 隹 represents the sound. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

Change in meaning
忄 hints at the original meaning of 惟, "to think", which is no longer the most common meaning of 惟 in modern Mandarin.
隹
隹 Sound component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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)

罹

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartywijɢʷij (copula); namely

說文解字

《說文》：“惟，凡思也。从心，隹聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.932
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)