扫帚
sào​zhou

broom

扫 sǎo, sào sweep Simplified

Simplified form of 掃. Depicts using a hand (扌) sweeping with a broom (帚).

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

彐
彐 Simplified component
jì snout

Shorthand for the 帚 component in the traditional character 掃.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

帚 zhou broom

Pictograph of a broom.

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
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 3 verified)

埽歸掃

Sound (2)

婦掃

Iconic (2)

婦𠬶

Remnant (1)

𠬶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyuwX[t.p]əʔ broom

說文解字

《說文》：“帚，糞也。从又持巾埽冂內。”

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)

掃 sǎo, sào sweep Traditional

Depicts using a hand (扌) sweeping with a broom (帚).

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

帚
帚 SoundMeaning component
zhou broom

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsuːʔ
suːs
Unicodesɑ̌u
sɑ̀u

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica