截塔
jié​tǎ

zeta

截 jié cut off

Components

𢦏
𢦏 SoundMeaning component
zāi to cut
隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzet[dz]ˤet cut, trim

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

塔 tǎ tower

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 荅 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
荅
荅 Sound component
dā, dá, tà small bean

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtʰuːb
Unicodetɑp

說文解字

《說文新附》：“塔，西域浮屠也。从土，答聲。”

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)