抱佛脚
bào​fó​jiǎo

cram

抱 bào embrace

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 包 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

包
包 SoundIconic component
bāo wrap

Depicts a person (勹) hugging a child (子).

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbawX[m-p]ˤuʔ carry in the arms

說文解字

《說文》：“捊，引取也。从手，孚聲。抱，捊或从包。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫谢明文《释甲骨文中的“抱”——兼论“包”字》
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

佛 fú Buddha

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 弗 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

弗
弗 Sound component
fú not

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjut[b][u]t great

說文解字

《說文》：“佛，見不審也。从人，弗聲。”

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)

脚 jiǎo leg Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 却 represents the sound. Simplified form of 腳.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

却
却 Sound component
què but

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjak[k]ak leg, foot

Sources

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

腳 jiǎo leg Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 卻 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

卻
卻 Sound component
què but

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjak[k]ak leg, foot

說文解字

《說文》：“腳，脛也。从肉，卻聲。”

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)