惨毒
cǎn​dú

cruel

惨 cǎn sad Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 参 represents the sound. Simplified form of 慘.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

参
参 Sound component
cān, shēn take part in

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

毒 dú poison

Depicts a plant (屮) that is not good (毐), i.e. a poisonous plant.

Components

屮
屮 Meaning component
chè, cǎo sprout
毐
毐 Meaning component
aǐ, ǎi person of reprehensible morals

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

碡

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

纛

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdowk[d]ˤuk poison (n.)
dowkm-[d]ˤuk-s to poison (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“毒，厚也，害人之艸，往往而生。从屮，从毐。，古文毒，从刀、葍。”

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)

慘 cǎn sad Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 參 represents the sound.

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart

忄 is a component form of 心.

參
參 Sound component
cān, shēn take part in

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰluːmʔ
Unicodetsǒm

說文解字

毒也。从心參聲。

Sources

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