抱拳
bào​quán

fist salute

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)

拳 quán fist

Components

龹
龹 Sound component
juǎn to roll rice into a ball
手
手 Meaning component
shǒu, shou hand

hand

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartgjwenN-kro[n]fist (< rolled-up hand)
Zhengzhangɡron
Unicodeghyuɛn

說文解字

手也。从手聲。

Sources

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